


Violently Ill

by Sphealrical



Series: Legends Live On [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: Angst, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Sass., angst everywhere, drowning in angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-23
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-14 09:43:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 34,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2186982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sphealrical/pseuds/Sphealrical
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shadow's injuries might be pushing Vio past his own breaking point. Does Vio have enough strength in him to help the both of them? (Complete)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> SUPER IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ: Although this is the second part of the series (because I wrote it AFTER "The Blood-Red Incident"), this is a PREQUEL to the first part. Please keep that in mind. There are reminders throughout the story that the events of "Incident" haven't happened yet, but do remember that this story does remain a prequel and is the second part of this series ONLY because of when it was written.
> 
> I know this is a super short chapter (I guess it's more of a "prologue"), but please keep in mind I actually wrote this first part a year ago and the newer parts within the last few months.

            “I don’t know if we can do anything for him,” Dr. Yamauchi informed the boy with a calm, factual tone. Vio sat perpendicular to where Shadow lie, eyes closed and unmoving, on the bed. “You are aware that his injuries are of supernatural cause. In fact, his whole existence in this universe is thanks to magic. Practical application of medicine can only help the symptoms of magic-based injuries. Only magic can help Shadow recover at this point, but the only kind of magic our doctors are allowed to deal with is first level magic. However, from my limited understanding of the supernatural, I believe your friend here would need at least a level 5 spell to help him in this state.” Vio nodded but kept his gaze at the doctor’s feet and allowed his bangs to shield his eyes from the devastating truth. 5th level magic, even for the most powerful or well trained mages, remains a highly unstable and unpredictable level of magic. To allow someone, anyone, to cast a level 5 spell onto Shadow, would be to push the dark-haired Link's life even closer to the edge for nothing more than a slim possibility of recovery. This was not an option. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.” Vio nodded at the floor again.

            “Thank you, Doctor. I’ll contact you if his condition changes.” Vio stated coldly, the disappointment and fear evident in his tone.

            “Please do.” Dr. Yamauchi responded. He then turned and began to leave the room, but when the doctor reached the door, his footsteps stopped. “Please contact me if your condition changes too.” He added.

            “I always do.”


	2. Chapter 2

            Green hesitated outside the purple painted bedroom door. He couldn’t hear any noises from Vio’s room, but whether that was a good or bad sign was difficult to tell at this point. He swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump in his throat. Green witnessed the doctor leaving the house over two hours ago. What could be keeping Vio?

            “Um,” he tried to begin, but found that words were awkwardly lodging themselves in his throat, “dinner’s ready, but don’t feel like that means you have to leave if you don’t want to. I mean, Red would probably be disappointed, but he’d understand, and Blue would… well, who knows what Blue would do. Well, you would I guess, but… anyway, I’m saying that if you feel like you need more time to-“ A sigh from the opposite side of the door stopped the emerald colored Link’s ranting.

            “Are the lights in the hallway on?” A naturally monotone voice –somehow more flat than usual- asked from inside the room. Oh. Right.

            “Um, yeah. Sorry. Hang on.” Green replied before jogging down the hallway towards the switch. It didn’t surprise him that Vio remembered to check for the danger of light hitting the injured boy before leaving the room. The first thing the original colored Link had learned of his amethyst ally over the last few months was of how his constant thinking was usually trained towards the well-being of those around him.

            The leader could remember how, just five months ago, the decision had been made by Princess Zelda to construct a rune to withhold Ganondorf so that the Four Swords’ wielder(s) wouldn’t have to rejoin. She’d been curious, both as a scientist and their friend, as to the magic’s deciding factor on what made up “Link” and what made up “the left-handed hero”. _I believe the phrase she used to wave away our questions was “constants and variables”._ He thought as he flicked the lights off.

            “You’re clear.” He called down the hallway as a crack opened in the space between Vio’s door and its frame.

            “Thanks,” he replied, calmly making his way from the room and carefully closing the door behind him. “The doctor accidentally left it on and… well… I couldn’t just open the door with the light-.” He’d been walking down the hallway as he spoke, and Green put an understanding hand on Vio’s shoulder, causing him to look up.

            “It’s alright. I get it. Let’s just go eat. You’re probably starving.” The corner of the purple-clothed hero’s mouth twitched upwards, and he nodded in response before allowing himself to be gently pushed forward.

            The dining room door opened to see Red sitting at the table, swinging his legs back and forth while rambling to an increasingly impatient-looking Blue about something that happened while he was training.

            “And then the commander said something about how he’d GET the boot if he didn’t clean up his attitude, which, of course made me laugh, so I said-“ he was cut off by Green clearing his throat. Water and fire turned their aquamarine focus towards the source of the noise. Red perked up while Blue raised an eyebrow at the duo.

            “Hey, Vio! Look!” Red peeled back the right sleeve of his light red undershirt and flexed his right arm. “All that training finally gave me muscles!” Blue scoffed.

            “Please. If you want to see REAL muscles, check out these guns!” The hotheaded hero retorted, copying Red’s strategy of showing off his muscles.

            “Can we go through one meal without you two checking each other out, please? I can’t tell if it’s narcissistic or just plain vulgar, but either way, I don’t think it’s appropriate table conversation.” Vio added, a light smirk on his face. Somehow, the two impulsive Links’ antics always seemed to cheer him up slightly. Red pouted at him.

            “Hey, I’m not showing off! He’s just trying to upstage me again because he’s mean!” He cried, causing a glare from the other side of the table.

            “As much as I hate to interrupt, did either of you bother to set the table?” Green asked, crossing his arms beside Vio. The sitting Links exchanged a glance. There was a moment of silence, which answered Green’s question well enough.

            As though it would somehow explain their apparent thoughtlessness, both seated Links began talking over and at and against the other.

            “It’s not my fault! HE’S the one who distracted me by-“

            “Hey! Don’t pin this on me! You’re the one who started ranting the second I-“

            “Ranting?! I was telling you a story! You’re the one who didn’t bother to-“

            “A story?! Are you kidding me! That had to have been an epic with how you just kept talking and I don’t remember-“

            Vio rolled his eyes good-naturedly –setting aside his impressed surprise that Blue knew what an epic was- and moved towards the kitchen.

            “It’s fine. I’ll set the table. You two just try not to kill each other while I’m gone,” when Green made a move to follow him, Vio continued. “It’s alright, Green. I have to take my pills anyway. You just be the moderator to make sure Blue stays PG for Red’s sake, and that Red doesn’t taunt Blue into strangling him.” With that, the purple-clad hero went through the white wooden door into the kitchen. The three remaining Links looked at each other. A moment of tense silence passed while they waited for Vio to be out of earshot before they began talking.

            “So… is he okay?” Blue asked. “I don’t know what the doctor told him, but from how he looked when he first walked in here, it couldn’t have been good.” Green shrugged in response.

            “You know how well he hides what he’s feeling. Let’s… I don’t know…” he trailed off, dragging his hand down his face. “I guess if he wants to talk about it, he will. All we can do is try to act normal. Maybe we can distract him from… whatever’s happened.” Their leader slumped down into his chair. After about a minute, he brightened and turned to Red.

            “That reminds me, how’s the… you know… coming along.” Red’s previously solemn face began beaming back in half a response.

            “I’m really close! Thanks to the 50 rupees that Sh-… Vio’s roommate donated, I only need a couple more days before I can buy it!” Red didn’t want to think about him as Shadow. Thinking about Shadow meant guilt and sadness and pain and bad memories. It was easier to think of him as “Vio’s roommate”, because Vio’s roommate was funny like Vio and made the smart, calm Link smile. Not to mention, Shadow was injured, but whenever he visited “Vio’s roommate”, he was always recovering and composed.

            Green and Blue exchanged a glance at the younger acting clone’s choice of words. They couldn’t afford to think of him like that. 

    As much as Green hated to admit it, he found it difficult to let go of all the things that Shadow had done to them, and still remained a little apprehensive –although he somehow hid it from Vio- about housing the ex-villain. To think of him as “Vio’s roommate” would be to ignore his problem with the mirror version, and if he did that, he’d never be able to get past it and learn about the new dark-clothed hero.

            Blue just didn’t like beating around the bush, and he knew that’s what calling Shadow “Vio’s roommate” would mean. As far as he was concerned, if one said, “Shadow”, the nickname was automatically implied. Why waste vision trying to look past the problem when one could meet its eyes and face it?

            Before either of the cool colored Links could respond, Vio returned carrying that night’s dinner.

            “Finally! I’m starving!” Blue groaned, not untruthfully. The others nodded in agreement while Vio finished setting everything up. They all ate in companionable silence for a while.

            Vio always finished his meal first, but he hesitated while he was standing to leave the room. Blue looked up at him with an eyebrow raised from over his remaining food.

            “You okay?” he asked.

            Vio thought for a minute. On the one hand, he knew they all deserved to know what was going on with the patient in his room, but… on the other hand…

            _Saying it out loud would make it… real,_ he thought to himself. By now, Green was giving him a worried expression, while Red was feigning that he hadn’t noticed by kicking his feet rhythmically under the table and humming.

            Vio hated that he could tell what they were all thinking sometimes. They deserved privacy in their own heads, but… he couldn’t help it. They were so easy to read.

            The purple-clad hero sat back in his chair and slumped slightly.

            “He’s returned to his comatose state. The doctor said it might be permanent this time, and… and the only way he knows how to fix him would be more likely to make it worse. He’s… I... The doctor doesn’t know if he’ll… make it.”


	3. Chapter 3

The other three Links paused, letting the weight of the words settle on their shoulders. Green and Red tried to think of something to respond with, but couldn't grasp any words that they thought would help. The silence stretched to an uncomfortable limit as sentence after sentence failed to think itself through. Blue sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He knew the other two Links were better at saying the "right" thing, but they were taking too long, and he'd never been well known for being patient. The robin's egg hero, over time, became used to saying the first thing on his mind and hoping for the best. He'd found that it's easier for him to lead a conversation in the right direction than to start it that way.

"I thought you said it'd been getting better since-"

"I know what I said," the short, clipping edge to Vio's monotone made Blue wince slightly. It didn't help that Red had shuddered and that Green was glaring four swords at him.

"It's okay, Vio!" Red said in an attempt to cheer his teammate up, "You remember what the yellow maiden told us about Shadow, right?" Under normal circumstances, Vio would smirk at his teammate's comment, but, to quote of one of his favorite authors, "Certain words make you think of things, even if you don't want to."

_Vio ran into the secluded shrine at full speed, only vaguely noticing the makeshift coverings over the cracks and windows that normally let in slits of natural light. The purple-clothed hero heard his teammates yelling after him at the edges of his consciousness but ignored the foggy words in favor of focusing on the task at hand._

_Despite the fact that his pupils hadn't dilated to the pitch-black room he'd run full-speed into, the "collected" Link found himself frantically searching the space around him. He knew that the maidens wouldn't have lied to them, especially about something like a rescue, but this fact did nothing to calm his ever-searching nerves._

_After his eyes had adjusted, the lavender hero quickly found what he was looking for and gasped. Sometime during his search, the other Links had run in after him, and as the violet-garbed teen ran towards Shadow, his teammates followed suit one after the other._

_Shadow sat, slouched in the darkest corner of the room, his head angled downwards to where his purple bangs covered any view of his face. His tunic had been thoroughly ripped to the point where more of the tattered fabric pooled around his waist than hung on his shoulders, exposing what should have been a view of his torso. Instead, shards of shattered glass sat, lodged into the dark hero's chest causing rivers of blood to stain his deathly pale skin an -ironically bright- red. Pieces of glass –varying in sizes and sharpness- protruded from different points and angles in the teen's skin. With every gasping breath the black-clothed Link took (Vio had no idea how he hadn't heard Shadow before. He'd later attribute it to panic) made the sharp edges of the glass shift slightly, adding new trickles to the rivers down his chest. Similar cuts swam under the blood on his arms, and his white tights were blotched in red and brown from fresh and dried wounds. Shadow's breathing sounded pained, and every other intake of air made the (thankfully) unconscious teen wince. Under the thickest pieces of lodged glass, red bubbles formed, popped, and shrank in tandem with his respiratory processes. Drops of blood periodically caused ripples in the pool on the floor around Shadow from where the wounds in his scalp caused blood to drip from his pointed hair._

_Vio ran towards his friend in a slight panic, not even realizing his movements until he was already at Shadow's side._

_"Shadow? Shadow! What happened? Are yo-" he caught himself reaching for his friend's shoulder, but decided against it, cutting off his words with the motion._

_Vio crouched to the wounded boy's right and turned his head towards his teammates._

_"Green! First aid kid!" He barked in their general direction._

_"U-uh, right! Okay, on it!" The original colored Link sputtered as began running back towards their packs (they had picked up some basic equipment before making their way back to the sanctuary)._

_"I'll get Red out of here!" Blue shouted at Vio just as the purple hero noticed the two of them. Blue was covering Red's eyes from the sight of Shadow, much to Red's chagrin._

_"I want to see Shadow too!"_

_"Red," Vio began in a tone he hoped sounded calm as he waited for Green, "I promise I'll tell you what happened later, but for right now, Shadow's not really in a good state for anyone to see. It would be a big help if you could run and get some water from the garden shrine for me, though." Red didn't have enough time to ponder the offer before Blue was pulling him out of the dark-shrouded shrine._

_"We're on it!" He shouted over his shoulder as he passed Green._

_"I got the maidens too. Just in case you wanted any help with this," he told Vio as he crouched to Shadow's other side. Green handed Vio the first aid kit. The clever hero nodded to show that he'd heard Green and immediately threw himself into the task at hand. A little into his work of cleaning up the excess blood so that he could see, he felt a light touch on his shoulder. Vio knew that the maiden behind him was about to speak, but he didn't allow himself to pause or look back at her._

_"You need not work so fast," a motherly voice told him, "We are using what magic we can to keep him in a special form of stasis. It might appear as though his wounds are fatal, but you know better than anyone that looks can be deceiving. However," Vio could tell from her voice that the maiden's expression dimmed slightly, "I insist that you finish with your work by the end of today." As Vio's movements grew slightly panicked, the maiden elaborated, "Do not worry, young hero. The fact that his wounds are now visible only shows that he is recovering. Unfortunately, he cannot stay here for much longer. If the shrine does not receive light, it will lose power."_

_Vio had understood what that meant then, even though his entire focus was trained towards helping his fallen comrade. Shadow could not face the light in his weakened state. There was no telling what could happen if even a miniscule amount shined on him. But, at the same time, the altar was the only thing keeping Ganon and his demons at bay. Zelda had already informed the maidens of her choice of constructing a rune to seal the sanctuary instead of the Four Sword, but that only put more stress onto the other elements of the sanctuary._

_Later, after the purple-haired hero had patched Shadow up as best he could, the Links wrapped him in the first aid kit's insulated blankets and carried him to an awaiting covered carriage that the princess had been thoughtful enough to call after hearing news from Red (who had left to tell her after Blue said he wasn't allowed back into the secluded shrine). Before boarding the chariot, the yellow maiden stepped forward and took Vio's shoulder._

_"Before you go, I need you to listen to me," she paused, waiting for Vio's full attention. The amethyst Link turned so that he was completely facing her. "I know you intend to help heal your new friend as best you can, so I want to make sure you know this. As you saw today, the shadowed Link's wounds are deep, but not all of them have revealed themselves yet. Although his physical body currently rests in this world, his injuries still lie in the Shadow Realm. As Shadow Link's mind and body become accustomed to the realm of light, his wounds will become visible as well. Each wound will only reveal itself after its predecessor has already healed because Shadow Link's body can only focusing on adapting one part of itself at a time. Please remember that sudden dips in health are going to occur, and that they only mean that he's becoming more accustomed to this world. And remember," a motherly smile brightened her features, "we would be happy to help him as we would be happy to help any of you." Vio paused for a moment, letting the words sink in, before nodding at the yellow maiden._

_"I understand. Thank you. For everything." The maiden smiled comfortingly down at the teenager. As the purple-themed Link turned to leave, her voice stopped him once more._

_"I apologize for yet another intrusion, but you just reminded me, I have one more favor I wish to give. It can not possibly hope to compare to saving the kingdom, but," She turned her head to look sidelong back at the shrine. "Daey!" She shouted behind her. A black fairy emerged from the building and swiftly fled towards the maiden, who turned and smiled down at Vio. "this fairy is a skilled servant to the triforce. During his time here, we chose for Daey to take care of Shadow because the color of this fairy offers no true light to a room. Therefore, when he was working on your teammate, he posed no risk of worsening his wounds. Daey, of course, needs to live here at the shrine, but, should you need his services, all you have to do is call his name." The black-clothed fairy flew in front of Vio's face._

_"If you ever need any help, sir, leave it to me!" The little fairy saluted before turning and dashing back into the building. The maiden chuckled._

_"He's rather shy. He's always spoke of his dream to be a hero's helper. But he's a young fairy and has many years left to go. However, helping you all heal your newest companion will be a good start to his journey. Anyway, your teammates seem to be growing patient, so I bid farewell, young hero," and with that, she gave his shoulder one last squeeze before seeing him and the other Links off._

"Of course I remember what the yellow maiden said about Shadow's condition," Vio replied to the Red sitting at the head of the table to his left. Vio pinched the bridge of his nose and rested his elbows on the table (despite the fact that this was poor manners, but he didn't really care if the rest of the Links minded at this point). "But that's what's worrying me. Every other dip in his state was accompanied by shards of glass, cuts, and/or some form of bleeding. This time, he's just… just unconscious." Vio chose not to add the worst part of the whole situation. Sometimes, without really thinking about it, he left out crucial points just to check if any of the other Links would pick up on them.

Green looked down at the ironwood floorboards. Blue seemed prepared to run out of the room. Red contemplated his dinner plate.

Right. Of course not. It was always up to Vio to connect with them, but Nayru help us if Vio needed anyone to connect with him or-

"I'm going to go check on him," Vio abruptly said, shoving his chair away from the table with a little more force than necessary before practically sprinting out of the room. He knew where his thoughts were going, and he wasn't going to let that happen this time. Especially not in front of them. He'd just end up making them mad.

"Vio! Wait!" Red called, struggling to stand and run after the purple hero, but he heard the door to the hallway that led to their bedrooms slam before he got a chance to leave the dining room. He'd never catch up. The remaining Links stood quietly frozen for a few moments.

"It's alright, Red." Blue commented from the other end of the table. "He'll get over himself and come out sometime. You can talk to him then." Red clenched his fists and slowly turned to his blue teammate.

"Blue," he began, feeling his words bitter in a way his teammates never thought they could, "If you honestly believe that that's going to happen, then you don't understand what's wrong."

Red spun on his heel and left the room before Blue and Green had a chance to recover from the statement that left them floored or completely understand what it meant.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, some Red and Blue cuteness to help with all this ANGST

"Vio?" Red called as he hesitantly knocked on the dark purple door of his similarly colored teammate. "Can I come in? I kept the lights out here off." His question was met with silence.

"Vio?" He asked as he rapped against the door again, "I know you're in there. Can I  _please_  come in?" Again, there was no response from the other side of the door. Red felt a hand on his left shoulder, but didn't let the added weight stop him from knocking a third time.

"Red," Blue started from where he stood slightly behind the ruby-clothed teen. The younger looking hero knocked again. "Red, please, let's just try again tomorrow." As the slightly-less-stubborn teammate's knuckles once more tapped against the dark purple wood, Blue sighed. "He just needs some time to think, that's all. Come on, we need to go back to town to," Blue's eyes darted between Vio's room and Red, "get some groceries."

"Why not just go wi-" realization dawned on Red's face as he began the question. "Oh. Right." the innocent Link's sudden clarity twisted into a disappointed expression as he turned his focus back to the door. "Vio, I'm gonna go out to Castle Town. It shouldn't take too long; I'll be back before 10. If you need anything, Green's training in the backyard, and I'll leave the hallway lights off." Blue began walking down the hallway, signaling to Red that he'd better hurry. "Well, I gotta go now. Bye, Vio! Bye, Vio's roommate! See you guys soon!" He had begun his goodbyes as he walked towards the foyer, and the further Red got from the purple hero's doorway, the louder he'd gotten until he'd called his last farewell from the door at the end of the hallway.

"Ready?" Blue asked impatiently from the front doorway.

"Yeah, just let me get my coat. It gets cold after dark and I don't think we'll be back while it's still light out." Red turned away from Blue and moved towards the place where the Links stored the clothes that they don't wear every day.

"I'm giving you one minute."

"But, Blue! I need at least two!" Red whined in retaliation from the armoire that was placed next to the door leading to the kitchen (the Links usually only needed their jackets when they were out on patrol or an adventure, which meant that they would be too hungry when they got home to think about anything like orderliness or personal storage).

Blue sighed in irritation as he leaned against the front door and crossed his arms. He rested his head against the white-painted wood and angled it back so that he was looking at the ceiling, his hat sliding forward until it shielded his eyes and closed the blue orbs against the anger boiling up his throat. It was bad enough Red always dragged him along whenever he went  _anywhere_ , but did he really need to be so damn  _slow_  about it? Besides, did he  _really_  need to bring his coat? Blue had already been  _frozen in a block of ice_. If he could survive being literally frozen, then Red could definitely survive a slight chill. The jackets look stupid over their tunics anyway.

Less than a minute after Blue let his thoughts wander, the sound of a zipper caught his attention, and he turned his head –fixing his hat as he did so- towards the noise.

Red stood next to his teammate with a goofy grin on his face as he held out the tempered Link's midnight blue hoodie.

"I figured you'd complain about it being cold if I didn't give you yours." Red added, lifting the garment on "yours" for further enunciation. Blue looked at the jacket for a second. The sapphire hero pulled his hands away from where they were messing with the trademark cone on his head and took the offered piece of clothing.

"Thanks," he replied as he put his arms into the armholes, choosing to ignore the fact that the only difference between his and Red's jacket was the fact that Red's was dark pink (Cerise, Red had insisted when they'd bought them, is  _not_  pink) which meant that the two were  _still_  matching and that he'd been cursing the thoughts of wearing a jacket not one minute prior. Red blinked at Blue in slight surprise before returning his expression back to the gushing grin.

"You're welcome!" He squeaked as he pushed past Blue to open the front door, all traces of earlier bad memories vanished from his mind and voice, "What's got you in such a good mood today?"

"What do you mean?" Blue asked in response as he followed his shorter teammate outside. Blue turned to close the door behind him, but knew he didn't really have to lock it. Their house stood on the opposite side of a thick forest from castle town (it'd been built to specifically make it more difficult for fans and tough guys to bother the four Links) with the only path to town being a dirt road built specifically to connect the two destinations (Zelda still wanted to be able to visit her friends, after all, so they couldn't make it too inconvenient). Besides, even if Vio was still in a funk –as Blue kept calling it in his head- Green could easily handle any burglars that might come to the house.

"I  _mean,_ " Red began, adding an eye roll to show Blue how clueless he was, "that you  _never_  say thank you or let me do something for you without a fight. But you just did both. So, what's got you-," Red cut himself off with a slight gasp in excitement. They'd begun walking towards town while Red had been talking, and now the childish Link tugged on Blue's arm until they stopped. He whipped a bright-eyed, too-happy expression in Blue's direction, "Is it a girl?!"

" _What?!_ " Blue asked much too loudly as his eyes widened in surprise. He backed away from Red's grip on the cotton of his jacket and held up his hands not at all defensively "No! Of course not!"

Red gasped again, a too-bright smile lighting even further. "It IS a girl! What's her name? What does she look like? Come on, Blue, did you honestly think you could hide something like-" Red was bouncing up and down with excitement, creating a scarlet blur in Blue's vision. The sapphire hero put his hands on Red's shoulders to still the ruby ball of energy before sighing.

"Red, there's no girl," Blue's voice leveled into a normal volume now that he'd gotten the initial panic in-control. "First of all, we haven't left the house for anything not work-related in a month. There's no possible way I could have met a girl in that time. Secondly, we've been too busy going between training to earning money to trying to help Vio with Shadow for me to focus on anything like a personal life. Lastly, you're always clinging to my side, there's no possible way for me to have a friend –let alone a  _girl_ friend- that you don't know about." He gave Red's shoulders a pat before continuing down the trail again. "I swear. Now we'd better hurry, or we'll be late to Mrs. Loyahl's, and I'm  _not_  helping you babysit those brats of hers if you're crying an apology."

"Hm, if you're sure!" Red called as he jogged to catch up with Blue. Blue wasn't looking back, but he could hear the taunt in Red's voice as the ruby hero caught up with him.

And if Blue hadn't been looking back to see Red exhale in relief and smile a little more when Blue swore that he didn't have a girlfriend… well, that was all the better.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the idea that the Links and Zelda are really official and proper when they have to be, but when they're just chillin' with each other, they're super sassy.

_Why did I volunteer for clean-up duty? _Green thought to himself as he cut down another overgrown shrub from the back yard and moved to get a nearby tree. _I mean, it’s not that I don’t want to help_ , -hack- _but why am I the only one _–hack- _getting these stupid plants_ –hack, hack- _out of the freaking backyard?_ –hack- _AND WHY WON’T THIS STUPID TREE JUST FALL ALREADY?!_ Green violently kicked the halfway cut down tree until it broke and toppled onto its side to show the backyard his disapproval of how it had let itself be filled with difficult-to-cut-down plants when Red needed the space to be clear. Green panted in anger and frustration before forcing his breath to even and for his psyche to calm down.

_Well,_ Green looked down at his arm, noting for himself how his muscles were beginning to define in the same way that Red’s and Blue’s had, _at least it’s good practice._ Green tried to pick up one end of the tree to drag it out of the backyard, but quickly found that it was too heavy for him. He tried from a different angle, and then another different angle, and then a _better_ angle before he eventually threw his hands up in frustration.

“Din damn it all!” He shouted before kicking the tree again. This time accidentally stubbing his toe, making himself curse. Green turned and slid down the side of the tree to inspect his injured foot.

“I thought Blue was supposed to be the angry one,” a voice called from the forest. Green picked his head up suddenly. The voice had only been a short distance away, but was far enough that he couldn’t recognize it. Green lowered his foot (which he had picked up to examine) and slowly stood, holding his sword in a stronger, more battle-ready grip. Night was beginning to fall, casting long shadows and making it more difficult to see. The voice had sounded from somewhere behind Green, where an hour-and-a-half walk would lead him towards castle town. He knew that Blue and Red had already left to help around town to earn some more money, and Vio was inside helping Shadow. It couldn’t have been any of them. Green spun on his heel to face the voice and lunged forward.

    Zelda stood with a calm, knowing smile before sidestepping out of her friend’s way in a practiced motion. Startled and worried that he’d hurt the princess, the original colored hero hesitated, but he didn’t need to. In his thoughts about back-up and voice recognition, Green had forgotten about the tree, causing himself to promptly fall over it and fall face-first into the freshly plant-free dirt.

    The light sound of Zelda’s fit of giggles was the only thing keeping Green from murdering the fallen tree again.

    “Don’t laugh, this is your fault,” he commented before getting up, causing his words to be muffled by the dirt and cut blades of grass his face was resting on. “If you hadn’t used that not-voice thing on me, I wouldn’t have a broken face.”

    “First of all, it’s not broken,” she began with a playful smirk, “second of all, you need to be more careful of your surroundings in the first place, and third of all, even if your face had been broken, some would call it an improvement.”

    “Ow, right in the pride,” Green responded, fighting –and losing, not that he’d ever admit to that- against the smile creeping into his voice and expression. “You’re never gonna get a king with that sharp mouth of yours. Makes you a real heart-breaker.”

    “If a guy can’t handle sass, he has no business running a kingdom.”

    “Touché.” Zelda snickered as Green wiped the dirt on his hands onto his tights and sat on the log, patting the spot next to him in invitation. “By the way, speaking of the kingdom, where’s your escort to keep you from almost getting stabbed by your friends?” Zelda sat next to him on the log, looking as completely comfortable as she had when they were kids and had the time to do this almost every day.

    “Back guarding my room because they think I’m still in it.” Green raised an eyebrow, the smirk promptly leaving his face. “I know, I know.” She waved her hand at him dismissively. “ _You shouldn’t sneak out of the castle so much,_ and _they’re only trying to protect you_ , but I haven’t seen you nor Vio –I see the corny love poem in town a lot- in such a long time and I haven’t gotten to speak to Shadow _at all_ , and the Chancellor would never approve of me making time in the schedule for a personal life, and why are you giving me that look?” Green’s expression had slowly turned from amused questioning to contemplatively sad since she’d accurately replicated his voice, and it had begun to worry Zelda. Usually, Green would give her this big speech about not sneaking away from the people trying to help you out, and sometimes he just sighed and shook his head playfully, but he’d never looked _sad_ before whenever she talked about sneaking out.

    “If you want to talk to Shadow or Vio, you came at a really bad time,” Green sighed, running his hand through his hair before noticing that his hat had fallen off. As Green stood up to get it, he continued, “Shadow’s condition’s gotten worse, and Vio’s is…”

    “Wait, Vio’s?” Zelda asked, standing and transforming from the long-time friend into the concerned princess. “What do you mean ‘Vio’s’?” Green sighed again as he adjusted his hat back onto his head and sat onto the fallen tree.

    “It’s- I don’t really know what’s wrong with Vio. All I know is we had to call the doctor once because of another one of Shadow’s drops in health. I think it was maybe one or two months ago? Anyway, we don’t usually have to do that, and it wasn’t as bad as the one now is, but better safe than sorry, right?” He didn’t wait for Zelda’s answer to continue. “Then, out of nowhere, the doctor storms up to me and asks me ‘How long has Violet Link been in his room?’ and that’s when I noticed that he’s dragging Vio by the arm, and Vio looks weird. He still had that stoic, neutral expression on his face, but the look in his eyes was begging, almost pleadingly willing me to not answer, and you could tell that he was fighting the urge to shake his head, and the corners of his mouth twitched downwards like he was also fighting a frown, definitely NOT how Vio usually looks.” Green knows he’s rambling now, but can’t seem to make himself speak in grammatically accurate sentences, “so I told the doctor that I hadn’t seen him in about five days, and then the guy gets _livid_. I didn’t know doctors could lose their temper like that, and he turns and storms down the hallway with Vio –who looked completely betrayed, by the way, which made me feel awful and worried- towards Red’s room.” Green played with his sword hilt from where he’d rested it against the log, twisting it back and forth, a nervous tick he’d developed after things from the Ganon incident had calmed down. He chanced a glance at Zelda. She stood stock-still, glaring at Green from over her nose, her fists clenched in anger. The original-colored hero suppressed a wince before continuing. “Then, all of a sudden, Vio had to start taking these pills. He didn’t tell me what they were for, only that I needed to watch him for these symptoms. I don’t know if Red knows what they’re for, but he’s been hanging around Vio a lot ever since that day, and I know Blue knows as much, if that, as I do.” 

    Zelda stood, waiting to see if the story continued. When Green didn’t keep going, she forced herself to take a couple of deep breaths through her nose and out her mouth before she spoke. It did nothing for her expression, but it helped keep her from screaming.

    “So you’re telling me that Vio –one of my confirmed four, maybe five best friends- has had a serious condition that requires _medication_ that you all knew about and not one of you had the thought to _tell me about it_?” Her voice was intimidatingly low and dark and Green had to keep from wincing again.

    “We’ve been really busy, Zelda. Maybe two days after the incident, Red suddenly got this big idea of how to help Vio and we’ve all been working like crazy to help. Why do you think I’m out here clearing out the backyard? For fun?” Green knew there was no reason for him to raise his voice, but Zelda’s obvious accusations, combined with the freshly remembered earlier frustrations, made resisting the volume change all that much harder. “And when we _somehow_ found free time, you were working! We all know how important your work is, so we didn’t want to interrupt that. You have to believe me that we all _wanted_ to tell you, but we just…” the original colored Link slumped into the log then. It was always painful, remembering that they couldn’t make time for each other like they used to, but the whole situation had made it all the worse. It was true that the Links had tried to reach out to their old friend, but, since Vio’s condition, according to the doctor, was still stable, the Chancellor said that it wasn’t an emergency. Green felt guilty every time he remembered the Chancellor’s condescending tone when he had told the three-fourths (Vio obstinately refused to talk about his condition if possible) that _unless it was an emergency, not to hold their breath_ about any holes in her schedule. The princess’s eyes softened a little at her friend. She sighed.

    “I guess I’ve been more busy lately than I thought…” She rubbed the back of her neck and sat down next to her life-long practically-brother again. “But that’s not stopping me from firing that Chancellor when I get back. I don’t care how busy I’ve been, he should have _made time._ ” The undertone of anger would’ve been hard to miss for anyone, but with Green’s ears, she might as well have shouted it. A moment of awkward – _Damn,_ Green thought, _when was the last time anything we’ve had anything awkward between us?-_ silence passed between the two. “Is Vio here?” Zelda asked.

    “His room. You know where it is.” Zelda stood up and moved towards the white-painted house’s backdoor. As she reached for it, Green called, “If you’re planning on going in his room, leave the hall light off.” Zelda turned with an appreciative smile before nodding and opening the door.

    “Thanks,” she called back, “it’s been nice seeing you. You should bring everyone to town when Shadow’s feeling better and we can all hang out! Bye!”

    “See you later, Zelda! We should; I’ll talk to the others about it!” Green called back.

                                 

    The original-colored Link waited a few minutes after the door closed to sigh and put his head in his hands. He stayed like that for a few minutes before slowly continuing his work with much less energy than when he started.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sigh* back to the angst

            Shadow’s condition against light meant that Vio couldn’t risk allowing even the thinnest ray in the room. There’d been no questions asked when he’d painted over his windows with three layers of black. None of the others had bat an eye at his refusal towards the installation of electric lights (Zelda and her peers in the science wing of the castle had invented it for a multitude of reasons, most of all for her recent fear of the dark) in his room, and no one thought twice when his room was the first to get a lock built onto the door when he’d told them that it was to keep any accidental hallway light from spilling in the patient’s space. 

    Vio liked it that way. When the days came where all he wanted to do was lock himself in the dark, he had excuses to do so. He was helping heal Shadow. The only one to question how often he’d give the black-robed Link medical attention was Red, and that was only because Vio would sometimes pass up on training to lock himself with his teammate, and even then, Red had the wrong idea.

    If it weren’t for that stupid doctor, the others wouldn’t have been the wiser. If Vio had just known how to help Shadow, they wouldn’t need to go out of their ways to help him. He could take care of himself. He thought he’d shown them that when he’d almost single-handedly taken out the Dark Mirror (a deed that he’s grateful didn’t actually occur). Green told him about the short guy that ruined the plan. If Green hadn’t saved him from the giant boulder, Vio could’ve saved the world on his own. He loves his teammates. They’re wonderful people, really, and that’s why they shouldn’t go out of their way to-

    Shadow’s sudden fit of coughing jolts the amethyst hero out of his thoughts. In an instant, the purple hero jumps up from the chair he keeps in the corner and is by the dark-clothed teen in an instant.

    Even in a coma, Shadow Link can still cough and wince. It’s the only thing keeping Vio from falling apart. The purple-haired boy’s still here enough to react to injury, even if he’s not _here._ By the time Vio gets to Shadow’s side, he’s already stopped coughing, but the purple-garbed Link knows better than to return to the thoughts in the corner. After all, he CAN take care of himself, even if he doesn’t always. The clever hero sighs as he sits in one of the two chairs he keeps to either side (he’d sat in the one to Shadow’s right) of the patient’s bed. 

    “What am I gonna do with you?” Vio asks, knowing he won’t get an answer but hoping for one anyway.

    There’s another knock at the door since dinner, but Vio’s inner clock tells him it’s much too early to be 10 already. Then again, he’s been sitting in a nearly pitch-black room for Din knows how long, so it might-

    “Vio? Vio open this door. I know where you guys keep the door keys. The hallway light’s off, and Green says you’re in there, and since he’s sort of monitoring the outer perimeter, I’m inclined to believe him,” the princess’s voice resonates through the purple door. The calm teen sighed. He knew better than to ignore Zelda and will her away. If the princess had one quality that worked against him here, it was stubbornness. “Vio, I swear I’ll go get Green to break this door down if you don’t-“

    “I’ll be right there,” Vio heard himself say. His voice came out cracked from hours without use, and it made the purple-garbed hero wince to hear it. Vio walked over and unlocked his door. It immediately opened, causing him to flinch at the unexpected sudden motion.

    “Alright, Vio. I know something’s up, and you’re going to te- oh, Din what happened to you; you look _awful,”_ the princess couldn’t keep the alarm out of her voice as she took in the disheveled appearance of her friend.

    “Most people just say hi, but I suppose I’ll let the impoliteness of that greeting pass since I probably do look awful,” Vio replied. 

    He’d seen himself in the foyer mirror when he’d passed earlier. He’d locked himself in his room for a couple of days before the doctor’s visit to try and see if he could find out what was happening to Shadow (the purple-garbed hero didn’t have many good experiences with that doctor, so he did all he could to keep him away), meaning his first _real_ meal in three days had been that night’s dinner. Worrying over his roommate had given him insomnia –which wasn’t worrying because he’d started taking pills two months prior and the insomnia only started after the most recent health dip- so bags only slightly lighter than Shadow’s wardrobe hung under his eyes. The malnutrition made his skin lighter and his hair thin but wasn’t SO bad that it made him lose hair, and he’d definitely gotten rid of a couple of pounds.

    “No. No, you don’t get to be sassy when you look like that, Vio.” There was no trace of joking in her voice or movements as she grabbed Vio’s arm and pulled him out of his room and down the hallway.

    “Hey, I’m wor-“ the purple-garbed hero tried to protest but was quickly cut off.

    “No. I don’t care. You’re coming with me, and you’re not going to argue because it’s very obvious that you have no sense of self-preservation right now, and I’m not letting one of my four-maybe-five best friends do this to himself,” the girl stomped her way out into the back yard, towards where it looked like Green was practicing his fighting on another tree. Green turned around in alarm when Zelda shouted his name across the expanse of fallen greenery. His expression becoming more so when he saw Vio in direct sunlight.

    “Oh my Din! Vio! What the heck have you been doing to-“ Green began, running towards the pair before Zelda stopped him.

    “I don’t care how busy I am. The next time _anything_ happens to any of you, _you break into the castle and you tell me._ ” The princess visibly seethed, speaking through gritted teeth. “Because I swear, if something like this happens again, and I come here finding that one of you looks like _this,_ ” Zelda gestured with her free hand to the slightly struggling boy in her death grip, “I will _personally_ make sure that _none of you_ see daylight out of the castle rooms that I will lock and personally guard the key to, _do I make myself clear?”_

    Green had to stop himself from gulping or wincing during her speech, but couldn’t help the frightened look on his face. He’d never seen his friend this mad before, and he now saw why the royal guards who she personally fired from her service sometimes needed therapy. Zelda stood, with a face very similar to the one the doctor wore the day Vio started taking his pills, obviously waiting for him to physically answer her.

    “Y-yes, ma’am,” Green cursed the stutter and saluted, falling back on his instinct as a royal knight as he usually did when he was scared out of his mind.

    “Good. I’m taking Vio with me back to town. I don’t know when –no, if, given the way you all have neglected this- he’ll be back,” she turned, dragging Vio behind her.

    “Green! Make sure you check on him once every hour! If there’s any change in condition, run and get me s-“

    “No, he can get the good doctor who’s been coming here! I’m not letting you get out of this!”

    The two’s argument disappeared around the corner of the house, out of Green’s view. The sounds of a carriage preparing to leave caught Green’s ears shortly after. The original-colored Link wondered how he could have missed the vehicle earlier (he had been murdering a stubborn tree at the time) as he watched it leave through the small visible portion of the road between the house and the beginning of the forest.

    It was easier than remembering how weak and injured Vio was, better than noticing how the purple-garbed teen’s betrayed look was even more haunting when behind sleep-deprived eyes, and more sanitary than focusing on the guilt that gnawed at his stomach and made him want to vomit and scream and cry at the same time.


	7. Chapter 7

            The carriage ride, to say the least, was awkward.

            When Vio wasn’t protesting his removal from the house onto deaf ears and the princess wasn’t lecturing him on why he has no reason to argue with her, the cushioned, plush space tensed in an angry, condescending silence. 

            The vehicle they rode in was Zelda’s usual personal parade carriage, which was only taken out on special occasions. Zelda had probably chosen it knowing that it would only be missed if the cleaning/repair crew were scheduled for upkeep work on the over-decorated transport. Having access to those kinds of documents, she probably planned it so that after a day, the crew would find it gone and report it to her guard and the king. The carriage had rose-colored plush velvet seats with a white-tiled floor. The tiles, seats, and tinted windows were rimmed with gold edging. The canopy, tinted windows, and the top half of the doors could be removed so that the parade-watchers had a better view of their princess, but the designer of the carriage paid no mind to the fact that the roof would never be seen by the general public. Choosing to design a triforce mosaic on the roof done in various shades of white/gray tile for the background and yellow and gold-colored glass for the icon of Hyrule. Behind the glass, the carriage’s lighting was installed, so that the triforce lit the entirety of the inside in a heavenly glow. 

            Zelda sat with her arms crossed in an opposite plush corner of the carriage as Vio, her body turned to look out the tinted windows of the royal vehicle. Her lips set in a stern line and her body rigid with stubborn anger. It was a stark contrast to the soft luxury that surrounded her, including the rose-pink plush she sat on that was so soft, she sunk about an inch into the cushion, but Vio kept that to himself since she probably wasn’t in the mood for discussions on juxtaposition.

            Vio sat leaning against the gold edging of his side’s tinted window. If the canopy were down, he’d be facing towards the direction of travel, while Zelda would have her back to it. From this angle, he could see little past the horses at the front, but he didn’t want to chance catching a glance of Red and Blue happily walking towards town. Every rock in the carriage made the side of Vio’s head hit against the metal edging, making him wince a little in surprise and pain, which only made Zelda angrier because it reminded her of his state of health.

            “Stop leaning your head against that or you’re going to hurt your brain cells even more,” she ordered after a particularly nasty jolt of the carriage caused him to hiss in pain. A bruise had formed at that point.

            “I’ve got plenty to spare,” he quipped back.

            “Obviously not, because otherwise you wouldn’t have let yourself get into this condition.” Zelda shot him a glare. “Besides, I already told you, no sass.” Vio sighed angrily and didn’t comply with the commanding tone. 

            “You don’t even know what ‘this condition’ is, do you?” He asked, inwardly seething at her decision to remove him from his home. What if Shadow’s condition changed and he wasn’t there? What if Red came back and needed to talk? Who was going to keep track of the food inventory while everyone else was busy with their practice/chores and the odd –in both senses of the word- jobs that they’d begun taking around town (for reasons that Vio, strangely, couldn’t figure out. They had funds from the royal family delivered every week in thanks for their efforts and the royal knighting job gave them enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives)? Blue couldn’t be bothered, Green was too busy, and Red couldn’t handle the calm, calling it “boring”. Vio’s eyes sent a challenge towards his friend. Zelda hesitated before answering, her eye twitching slightly in annoyance (both for the strange defiance she never received and not immediately knowing the answer).

            “No,” she finally admitted, eyes glancing out her window again. “But any illness that made you-“

            “If you don’t know what illness it is, don’t blame my current state on it,” Vio finally turned his head so that light blue eyes locked with royal blue ones. “Isn’t that one of the first mistakes that happens in malpractice? You treat based on your own assumptions rather than the easily accessible data?”

            Zelda paused again. She’d forgotten in the time apart how quickly Vio could turn a point around on her. When the Four Swords were only Link, she’d best him in every battle of wit, but when her life-long friend became her life-long friends, she quickly realized that he had either been holding back or not tapping into his true potential. After taking a moment to rack her mind for responses, Zelda sighed. Her posture slumped, and her arms fell to her lap in surrender.

            “You’re right. I’m sorry; I might’ve been overreacting, but…” she waved towards his side of the window limply, “ _look_ at yourself and tell me that if you hadn’t found me looking like this you wouldn’t overreact a little too.”

            Vio could see a faint reflection in the glass’s tint. The glimpse he had caught of his disheveled form in the foyer had only been a fraction of how terrifyingly weak he had allowed himself to become. Of course, he looked worse than he felt, but she was right. She always found some way to be right. Vio sighed back, her defeated pose softening the resentment he’d had a moment before.

            “And besides,” she continued, “Green didn’t know anything about this. I was actually coming to your room to ask you when your state made me… panic, I guess.” She raked her hand through her long hair, finding a tangle about halfway down that she unceremoniously yanked through. “The look on Green’s face suggested that you didn’t want to talk about it.”

            “Not wanting to talk about something and not being asked are two different cases, Zelda.” The teen hero replied turning his shoulders and knees so that his back fit snugly in the corner of the carriage. Now, every bump would make his head hit the plush-velvet where it rested.  It took Zelda a moment to process what he’d said. When it did, the princess blinked at him a few times before slowly moving to put her head in her hands and rest her elbows on her knees in her are-you-kidding-me pose.

            “Are you telling me that Green never eve-“

            “In his defense, the doctor probably should have told him. We all have an agreement with the good Doctor Yamauchi that says that he may relate any health problems to the other four as he feels is appropriate. Green respects our privacy and doesn’t want us to feel like he’s intruding. Blue doesn’t want to deal with anything that he thinks might make him ‘sad’. In the end, the only one who asked was Red who probably assumed that everyone else had asked too.”

            Zelda dropped her hands so that they crossed over her knees, but kept her gaze steady at her feet with a passive expression. What Vio said had made sense, naturally, but the idea that such a giant miscommunication could occur across four people who all came from the same mind…

            “So what exactly is the condition?” She asked, sitting up, resting her head against the back of the cushion and turning to look at Vio. Her posture conveyed a tired curiosity, showing the definite stem of the mark of wisdom she held, but her eyes betrayed the root of worry that spawned the question.

            The purple-garbed boy, when the symptoms first began, practiced the necessary facial expressions for normal conversation in the hallway’s bathroom’s mirror. He knew that, eventually, he wouldn’t be capable of feeling the necessary emotions required to properly emote, and so he wanted to be ready for when that happened. This assured him that he wouldn’t have to worry the others. Now, he fell back onto his age-old, trademark smirk.

            “I thought you’d never ask,” the hero crossed his legs.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue and Red continue on their way to town.

           “Is it just me,” Red asked, watching the vehicle disappear in the distance, “or has that carriage passed us going the other way already?”

“It’s not just you,” Blue replied, “it’s probably the doctor checking up on Vio or Shadow again.” 

        “It’s awfully pretty for a doctor’s carriage, don’t you think?” Red asked, curiously eyeing the fleeing shadow.

        “Well, then maybe it’s one of the royal messengers sending word from Zelda,” Blue shrugged. “God knows she’s apparently  _too busy_ to visit us herself.” Red flinched at the hard pronunciation his cerulean friend had used. Blue was still upset that their childhood companion couldn’t find room in her schedule to talk to the Links. Especially since the three had told the Chancellor about the urgency of the message and that it was really best they deliver the news in person.

        “Wouldn’t we recognize it if it were royal?” Red asked, trying to change the subject. “I mean, we’re in town a lot, so we must have seen one or two of those, and it would have the cre-”

        “Oh, for Din’s sake, Red! Who cares whose it is?! Maybe we’d be able to recognize it if SOMEONE hadn’t been sick on the day of the Hero’s Celebration parade and hadn’t BEGGED for me to stay home! Then we could’ve seen a whole castle-full of carriages to at least base our stupid prediction from. But it doesn’t even matter because-” Blue was cut off by giggling. “What?!” He asked flipping his gaze to look at his smaller teammate.

        “Nothing! Nothing! Sorry! It’s just-” Red chuckled a little more, “You got so worked up about it! It’s funny! Besides, you’re right, it doesn’t matter. If it had been someone who needed to talk to us, the carriage would’ve stopped anyway! Besides,” Red waved his hand dismissively at the blue-themed hero, “I was just trying to make conversation. It’s boring when we just walk forever without saying anything!” Blue thought about Red’s words with a dazed look on his face before nodding his head and replying.

"Yeah, I guess it is pretty boring when we don't talk." He chuckled. "Remember the last time we rode in a carriage? Vio made us wait forever before we left so that he could take to that maiden?"

"Oh yeah!" Red's eyes lit up. "And then she told him that she was lending us a fairy? What was his name? Daey! That was so cool!"

"That's right. I remember Daey from the first day after our house was built. Vio was showing him around. Hey," a thought occured to Blue, "whatever happened to him? Wasn't he supposed to help Vio with Shadow?" Red groaned.

"Ugh, Blue! I told you about this! Vio didn't want to impose, but Daey  _really_  wanted to help, so they struck a deal. Vio would take care of Vio most of the time, but if all of us left the house, we'd call Daey and have him help keep an eye on Shadow. Also, if Vio needed  _any_  help when it came to taking care of Shadow; whether it's calling the doctor, getting something from the kitchen, or the actual applying of medicine, Vio would call Daey from the shrine  _immediately_. It settled Vio's conscious, and it helped calm Daey down since all you need to do to call him is shout his name really loud."

"Really? All that bothering over helping Vio? Seems a bit excessive. Guy can take care of his stuff pretty well." Blue immediately regretted the words the moment they left his mouth.

"Well, you know, taking care of Shadow is a full-time job, and it's pretty exhausting."

Blue put his hands in his hoodie pockets. The pair had been walking for a while now, and if Blue’s inner clock was set well, they’d reach town soon. The sun’s last rays before setting were shining over the trees surrounding the wide dirt road to town that the boys were walking on, bathing the dirt in a golden glow and stretching the pair’s shadows to their limits. The sky was a rainbow of colors, which always made Red -somehow- happier than usual to see, and the canopy above the trees permitted light to the shine on the ground in filtered blotches of hues.

“Speaking of that,” Red turned his head to his blue companion, eyes holding a strange look that Blue couldn’t read, “you really didn’t have to be so mean at dinner.” Blue groaned.

“I wasn’t trying to be mean. You know how I am with stupid crap like  empathy ,” Blue made a face from the bad taste that word left on his tongue, “If I ever got to be that broken down, I’d rather be stabbed than have to deal with all that talking it out and pity.” If there was a pause before Red continued, Blue didn’t notice it.

“There’s nothing wrong with pity, Blue.” The smallest Link’s voice was quiet, but Blue was too far into his own thoughts to notice it.

“Of course there is. Pity’s what condescending people feel when they have a legit  reason to treat other people like children.” Blue shuddered at the thought of someone ever treating him that way. He’d seen it at the hospital when the four had went there to first request daily house visits for Shadow. Adults treating others like they were kids who’d lost their favorite toy, “It’s awful.” When Red gave Blue no response, the hot-headed hero glanced at his shorter teammate.

       Red was walking with his eyes cast to the ground. The smaller Link’s hands were safely stored in his trouser pockets, and he kicked rocks along with every other step. _Shit_ , Blue thought, repressing the urge to sigh, _here we go._

“Hey, I wasn't trying to- I mean- Is something wrong?” He stuttered, cursing himself the whole time. Red didn’t answer, instead opting to shake his head in response.

        “It’s nothing,” Red replied. Blue raised an eyebrow at the ruby hero. That was even more worrying than Red not skipping his way down the street. Under normal circumstances, the smaller hero would be bawling, wailing out his problems to anything with ears around him at the time. For him to just be walking along only  looking sad, as weird as it was to say, felt even more wrong to Blue than having the scarlet hero be crying in the first place.

        “Is it about Vio?” Blue , ever the blunt one, asked. “Because he’s going to be fine. If that was the doctor, he left awful quickly for someone who takes care of sick people. Especially if Vio were in serious trouble.” Red hummed an affirmation. Blue took it as a good sign. “And if it was someone from the royal palace, that carriage would be going much faster if there were anything wrong.” Another hum, and the Link who wore the color of his eyes began to seriously worry about the shorter teammate. The only other time Blue had seen Red act this way was the night that the taller teammate had to start helping Red through his nightmares. Back then, Blue’d chalked his fellow four-sword wielder’s behavior up to not wanting to wake everyone else and still being too sleep-fazed to fully emote. For him to be quietly sulking now, however, made no sense.

        “Red, seriously, what’s wrong?” Blue sped up a little in his walking so that he could turn and look at Red from the shorter hero’s front. “It’s not like you to be-”

        “You  _would_ know, wouldn’t you?” Red spit back suddenly, surprising Blue with his tone for the second time that day.

        “What?” Blue asked after Red didn’t continue, “You’re not making any sense.”

        “Well, you know me so _well_ , Blue, so you tell me.” Red gripped his hands into fists at his sides. “You tell me why it’s _so weird_ for me to be sad.”

        “It’s not because you’re… whatever emotion this is,” Blue answered, still recovering from the shock of the sudden change of the conversation’s tone. “It’s just because it’s not like you to be so…” this felt to Blue like another one of those situations where the wrong or right word could change everything. Blue silently cried out to the Goddesses  _ why do you keep putting  me  in these kinds of situations? Have I not suffered through enough miles of sap and emotions from this guy already? _ Red’s face was aimed at the ground, but he was looking up at Blue through his bangs. Instead of the sad, puppy-like look that one would expect from someone looking like this, it seemed as though the smaller hero was quietly seething, almost daring Blue to say the wrong thing. “repressive?”

        Red’s expression shifted into a darker look, and he quickly moved around Blue with a speed much faster than the one the taller teammate thought with which Red was capable.

        “If you really think that, Blue,” he said, walking into the town walls that Blue hadn’t realized they’d neared, “then you must not know me as well as you think.”

        With that, Red, for the second time that day, ran away from the taller hero. However, this time, he didn’t need to speed up from his fast-walk at all. Blue had stopped dead in his tracks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fanfiction get updated more often on my fanfiction.net and deviantArt account (both of those accounts go by the same name except it's "Sapphire Host" on fanfiction), but I'll try and get this updated a lot sooner here too. Sorry, guys. Kind of letting you down here.


	9. Chapter 9

            “Of course this couldn’t be just another simple babysitting job. Of course he had to start spouting cryptic bullshit at me and then run off. How the hell did Link ever get so many fans if so many parts of him were so MELODRAMATIC?! I mean, COME ON! Does everyone around me have to be so fucking EMOTIONAL all the time?””Blue growled to himself, conveniently forgetting that he was known as the angry one in order to make the case seem more logical in his head, as he stomped down the road towards Mrs. Loyahl’s house. It hadn’t taken long for Blue to stop caring about the townsfolk’s various opinions of him, and, as such paid no heed to the fact that every person he passed gave him a confused and slightly alarmed gaze.

            Blue continued the heated soliloquy as he made his way towards the original destination. Red had promised the town’s judge, Aria Loyahl, that he would babysit her children tonight so that she could go out for a romantic night on the town with her husband, a successful shopkeeper, on one of her rare nights off. Blue knew that if there was one thing Red would never do, it was break a promise. The sapphire hero also knew that he needed to talk to Red about what could possibly have caused such a non-outburst (as much as the thought of another emotional dialogue sent shivers of detest down Blue’s spine). Blue had no doubt it would make the duration of their visit to the Loyahl house awkward, but he had even less doubt that things would only get worse the longer he allowed them to fester, and as much as Blue liked to reject the logical parts of his mind in favor of his age-old comforting anger. He could not argue with his left-brain this time, because emotions had proven him the fool on multiple accounts that day.

            His words were abruptly halted when he arrived at the judge’s house. The stone, two-story building was rather large when compared to most of the houses around town. Back when the family had first had it built, many people would mistake it for a large store, only to complain to Mr. Loyahl when the doors were constantly locked. To help keep people from trying to open the door at alarming points of the day and night, the family added a few touches to make it seem more lived in. A white picket fence with a white-painted wooden gate surrounded the front-yard and lining the fence was a well-maintained flower garden. A circle stone path, led from the gate to the front door in a zigzag shape along the grass. Red liked to jump to every other stone whenever they had business at the Loyahl house. The scene would always make Blue roll his eyes. Now, the sapphire hero simply walked up to the door and knocked.

            He always called kids “brats”. That was just the kind of person he was, and it wasn’t that he thought children were inherently trouble; he was just never the kind of person who was patient enough to deal with them. Mrs. Loyahl’s children weren’t the worst of the kids he’d met after Red began taking odd jobs; in fact, Red was always astonished by the amount of work the woman was able to contribute towards her kids with despite the ever present stress of her full-time job. It’s just that…

            “Blue!” the memory of their chorus of voices echoed in his mind.

            Somehow, despite all the time and energy she devoted to her work, Mrs. Loyahl had so many of them. Granted, a good amount of them were adopted, but… still… there were so many.

            “Nice to see you, Blue! Come in! Come in! ” Mrs. Loyahl opened the door and exclaimed as she beckoned him inside. Blue thanked her, as he obliged. The judge was a tall woman with black hair, streaked with gray from the stress of her job. Her skin had a slight tan from working with her children in the garden, and her eyes were so dark-brown that, under the right lighting, her irises appeared to be one and the same as her pupil. She wore a fancy red dress and her hair was pulled back into a tight bun. “I was worried that you’d gotten lost! You’re both always here so earl-“ Mrs. Loyahl opened the door and beckoned him inside, but cut herself off as the hot-headed Link stepped into the house. “Hang on a moment, where’s Red?” Blue turned with a confused expression.

            “Wait, he’s not already here?” The answer on her face made him feel the need to explain. “Well, you see, he kind of,” Blue scratched the back of his neck, “ran ahead of me on the path.” Mrs. Loyahl appeared alarmed.

            “Wait, are you saying that he’s missing?” She asked, looking worried.

            “Well, kind of.” Blue admitted, avoiding the black-irised gaze, “We had a little bit of a fight on the way over here, and he stormed off. I thought for sure he’d have come here since he promised to babysit tonight, but…” Blue shrugged, focus still shifted away from her, “I guess I don’t know where he is.”

            Mrs. Loyahl thought for a little, her expression one of quiet contemplation.

            “Do you wish to go search for him?” She finally asked, the disappointment of losing her night out hidden behind the tone she used when addressed as “Your Honor”. “I could always reschedule.”

            “No, no.” Blue quickly disrupted the idea, meeting her look and shaking his head. “We were just entering town when he stormed off, so he’s okay. Besides, even if he weren’t surrounded by the city walls, Red can take care of himself.” Mrs. Loyahl searched his eyes and expression. She smirked and nodded knowingly at him.

            “Of course he can. Alright, we’ll be back before midnight, like usual. If you have any problems, you know what to do.” Blue nodded his head at her.

            “Have a good time, Mrs. Loyahl. I’ll take good care of them.” That knowing smirk on her face grew a little more.

            “I know you will! Good bye and good luck!” She said before promptly leaving.

            The layout of the Loyahl house put an empty hallway between the front door and the actual living spaces. Blue took a deep breath, turned, and continued on his way towards the job that he felt in no way prepared for.

            “Blue!” Came the chorus as he opened the living room door. Within moments, he was tackled to the ground by the origin of the exclamation.

            She had so. Many. Kids.

            After spending a few seconds crushing Blue’s lungs to the point of near-asphyxiation, the kids finally began to pull away.

            “Alright, guys. Let’s not crush the guy to death. Nice to see you, Blue!” The eldest, a boy by the name of Leoni, ordered the others before firmly shaking Blue’s hand. Leoni was only a year younger than Blue, but never complained that his parents thought he still needed a babysitter. The boy had short, well-maintained hair as dark as his mother’s but the tan skin of his father. His eyes, a bright green, were also passed down from his dad. He sometimes helped his father with shipments of inventory, but spent most of his time studying. He wanted to be a doctor when he grew up, after all. His father didn’t complain that he couldn’t pass down the business, but Leoni, called Lee by the family, often felt guilty when he told his dad that he couldn’t help out the shop because he needed to study.

            Leoni also loved confiding in Blue and Red, whom he admired and saw as his friends. Red –and secretly Blue- thought of Lee as their friend too.

“ Yeah, it’s been a while!” Came a feminine voice from behind Lee. Faruin was the third oldest, but oftentimes her mature nature convinces people otherwise. She took more of her father’s traits with her sandy-blonde hair and green eyes, but her personality was definitely passed down matrilineally. Unlike the eldest boy, Faruin desperately wants to inherit her father’s business, and does her best to prove to him that she could do the store proud. “You don’t _have_ to have a reason to come visit us, you know.”

            “Yeah!” Three voices rang out in agreement. The triplets, Viacka, Pharia, and Ingo, tugged at Blue’s arm playfully.

            “I mean, not that we don’t-” Pharia, the eldest, began.

            “-like when you babysit, it’s just-” Ingo, the middle of the three, continued.

            “-it’d be fun to simply hang out with you too!” The youngest finished.

            The triplets, or V.I.P. to the family, were adopted from the streets. Viacka, or as most people called her, Vee, and Pharia were identical while Ingo was fraternal to the two. Vee and Pharia had long, curly jet-black hair with piercing blue eyes. Ingo shared their blue eyes, but he had curly light-brown hair. All three had faces sprinkled with freckles, and they mostly enjoyed the company of each other. They were found hiding outside the walls by the watch-guards on their rounds, and were promptly taken to the Hyrule Orphanage. However, a couple days later, a woman returned claiming to be their mother and demanding she receive the “rights” to them again. The case went to Judge Loyahl’s courtroom; the children went to stay at Judge Loyahl’s house. They ended up being the fourth, fifth, and sixth oldest.

            “Especially now that Turgeon’s got what he deserved!” Shaera snickered from the corner of the living room where she sat, perched on the arm of the reclining chair. The second oldest girl often was confused as being Faruin’s twin (most people were shocked to hear that the two had a whole 18 months separating their births) due to their appearances, but their personalities were completely different. Shaera often found herself getting in trouble for various reasons. Once, she was suspended from school for beating up one of Ingo’s bullies. Another time, she accidentally broke one of their father’s store’s vases while helping Lee around the shop. She meant well, but didn’t know her strength and often let her protective instincts get the better of her.

            “Why, what happened to Turgeon?” Blue asked, pulling his arm free from V.I.P.’s grasp. The biggest downside to babysitting the Loyahl’s was the second youngest boy, Turgeon Loyahl. The boy had no sense of empathy or discipline and was a notorious prankster across town.

            “Mommy sent him to Discipline School!” Rose cheerfully called from the corner, giggling. Rose, named for her strawberry blonde hair, was also adopted. She was left on the Orphanage’s doorsteps as a newborn with a note asking them to take care of her. She was the youngest member of the family at only five years old, but could already read and was beginning to learn how to write. 

            “Oh, wow,” Blue’s eyes widened and he turned to Lee, “what did that poor troublemaker do this time?” The discipline school was run by retired members of the Royal Guard, and although few people ever stepped foot in the place, all those who did came out -almost literally- beaten into shape. Lee rolled his eyes.

            “Anyone who accidentally,” Lee used his fingers to make air quotation marks around accidentally, “sets a school desk on fire doesn’t quite qualify for pity.” Blue blinked a few times before sighing and shaking his head in disbelief. “Yeah,” Lee continued, walking up to the azure hero and patting him on the shoulder, “that was our father’s reaction too. Now come on, sit down!”

            “Yeah!” Shaera got up to allow Blue to sit down in the recliner, “You must be tired from all the walking! Have a seat!”

            “Oh, you shut up.” Faruin teased as she poked her sister in the stomach, “you just wanna hear the dish on why Red isn’t here right now.” Shaera faked repulse.

            “Such an accusation! How dare you?!” They continued to fake bicker while the triplets walked up to Blue and sat on the armrests to his sides, the girls on his left, Ingo on his right.

            “If you don’t mind me asking,” Vee began, looking a little shy, “why isn’t he here?”

            “Yeah!” Ingo continued, crossing his arms and pouting, “he promised!”

            The eldest girls stopped bickering to look at Blue. “It is sort of odd,” Faruin said, her voice full of concern. “Red doesn’t seem like the kind of person to just skip out on a promise.”

            “Is everything okay? I know he’s been working hard to earn money, did he overwork himself?” Shaera asked, propping herself by her elbows on the space on the armrest to Blue’s right. 

    “Is he sick?”

    “Did you two-”

    “-have a fight-”

    “-or something?”

    “Oooooh! A fight? That sounds like good gossip material!”

    “Blue-y! Be more nice to Red!”

    “To be fair-”

    “-he didn’t quite-”

    “-answer the question.”

    “Oh, right. Well, Blue, did you?”

            “Okay, first of all, all of you need to stop talking to me at once.” Blue began, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. So many kids. “Second of all, don’t worry about Red, he can take care of himself.”

            “And third of all,” Lee continued, bringing in a glass of water. “Like Shae said before, Blue must be tired. All of you scat. Let him rest a little.” After some arguing, the others begrudgingly dispersed.

            “Oh, thank Din.” Blue exclaimed. Lee chuckled.

            “You’re welcome.” His clever response got him a playful punch in the shoulder from a blue-clothed hero, who gratefully accepted the glass offered to him.

            “Whatever, smartass.” the sapphire-themed hero drank the clear liquid; not realizing how thirsty the trip had left him until he began drinking. “By the way, where’s ZT?”

            “Where do you think? Rose’s room of course.”

            ZT, full name Zeldaterra, was the Loyahl family chain-chomp. The Loyahl family was proud to adopt the purebred Mountain Flat-tooth. The chain-chomp was an albino with black eyes, not an uncommon trait for its breed, and its name was chosen by Rose. It was family tradition to let the last-born member of the family name the newest member (with the exception of Faruin, since Vee, Ingo, and Pharia already had names. Faruin didn’t mind, though. She admitted that she wasn’t very good at naming things), and, instead of naming the pet something generic, she chose to combine her two favorite heroines, Princess Zelda X and Terra the Pirate. The Flat-tooth breed was notorious for being sweet and friendly, but Rose was the only child who was brave enough to pet and hug the chain-chomp (possibly due to a motherly bond that naming it had given her) making the two inseparably best friends.

            “Right. Sorry.”

            “Don’t be. It’s been, what, two months since your last visit?” Lee waved dismissively at Blue’s comment, “you’re bound to forget stuff.” There was a comfortable silence as the two sat and relaxed a little. “Um, Blue? I know it’s not my place to pry, but if you don’t mind my asking-”

            “I don’t know where he is.” Blue answered, closing his eyes and leaning his head back to rest on the back of the chair. “We kind of had a fight, and got separated after we got here.” Blue sighed a little. “To be honest, I wouldn’t have come if I knew he wasn’t here. I’m just as surprised as the rest of you.”

            “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that he’s missing.” A pause. Even behind Blue’s closed eyelids, the teen could tell that Lee felt guilty for asking. Blue tried to feign apathy by shrugging, but apathy had never really been his thing.

            “I just don’t get what his problem is, is all.” Blue continued. “I mean, one second we’re laughing, talking about carriages.” He could practically hear Lee’s eyebrow rise in amused questioning. “Long story. Anyway, then we started talking about something else and Red got all upset and stormed off.”

            “Well, Red’s a pretty emotional person, after all-”

            “But that’s just it,” the aqua-colored hero opened his eyes and raised his head a little to gauge his friend’s reaction, “he wasn’t acting all outburst-tantrum-emotional. In fact, he was being pretty weird and cryptic.” Alarmed. That reaction meant alarm.

            “Really? That is weird.” Lee thought for a moment. “What did he say before he ran away, if you don’t mind me asking.”

            “A bunch of stuff,” Blue tried to recall exactly what Red had been talking about. “He said some weird stuff about me, and I’m quoting him here, ‘knowing him _so_ well’, and then when I said it wasn’t like him to be so bottled up with his emotions he said that I must really not know him and then stormed off.”

            “Wow,” Lee breathed, confusion and alarm clear on his face, “that is _really_ weird then.” There was another pause as Lee’s expression turned to one of deep concentration about something, most likely causes. After a while, his face fell in surrender.

            “Well, I’m glad you’re taking this so well, Blue.” Lee continued.

            “What do you mean?” Blue asked, tilting his head in confusion. It took Lee a second to respond, his face flashing through a series of emotions that moved too fast for the angry Link to read, finally settling on a slightly surprised expression that pissed the one-fourth off.

            “Are you serious?” He asked. When Blue didn’t respond, Lee stuttered to continue, “I-I mean. It’s just that you, you know…” when it was clear that no, Blue didn’t know, Lee swallowed, grasping for something else to say, “you’re a-always looking out for him, and now, suddenly he’s run off to Nayru-knows-where. I mean, I get that you’re really protective of him, and I respect that, but…”

            “But what?” Blue growled a little, glaring daggers at Lee, who was clearly withholding information from him.

            “But, to be perfectly honest Blue, even though I’m a year younger than you, if I was treated like a child the way that Red always is.” Lee shrugged his shoulders, looking down and away from Blue.

            “I guess that’d make me snap after a while too.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to TheWritingGamer (www.fanfiction.net/u/4162596/), ShadowLink5 (www.fanfiction.net/u/4845745/), and amyaims (amyaims.deviantart.com) for your help in the character design and for all the reviews! It always brightens my day to hear from you all, and you guys don't know how big of a help you were!


	10. Chapter 10

            “The first symptoms began to show up,” Vio started, angling his head back against the cushioned seat so he could admire the mosaic light-fixture as he thought back, “around Shadow’s… I wanna say second health dip.”

            “Health dip?” Zelda asked. Right. Too busy for anyone to fill her in on anything.

            “Shadow still has to adjust to the Light Realm. See, whenever Ganon brought him through the Dark Mirror, he left traces of Shadow –his memories, most of his emotions, and a load of other stuff- back in the Shadow Realm.”

            “Why do that?” Zelda cut in again. Vio withheld what could have been either a chuckle or a sigh. Leave it to Zelda to let her curiosity over-ride her manners.

            “By only taking certain parts of Shadow through the mirror, it ensured that he wouldn’t get second-thoughts about the things he was doing –Shadow is a Link after all.” Zelda smiled and nodded her head, remembering the words she’d told the black-clothed boy on the roof of the Tower of Winds. “That’s also why there was such a drastic change in his personality after Shadow’s second pass through the mirror. Before, Ganon had been able to take his time, carefully crafting every section of Shadow that he could put to use to help his purpose. But, on the second time, we were too close for that kind of meticulousness. So Vaati attempted a rough version of Ganon’s ‘edits’. Unfortunately for them,” Vio smirked, “it takes a lot of work to separate the hero from a Link. Much more, anyway, than what Vaati did.”

            “But, getting back to the point, parts of Shadow –due to the edits- were still left in his home realm. This also served as a kind of insurance to keep Shadow protecting the mirror. He could only completely function with that link maintained. When the mirror was destroyed, so too was much of Shadow.”

            Zelda nodded, even though Vio was still admiring the ceiling and couldn’t see her. She had memories –as cloudy and foggy as the sky she’d been pulled into- of watching the events that transpired on the roof that day. Seeing the purple-haired teen push the mirror over in a brave act of –for anyone had known at the time- martyrdom, only to become completely incapable of moving afterwards. His breathing looked like it came in short rasps and all expressions on the boy’s face were dimmed with pained undertones. Looking back, if Zelda had been conscious enough to completely register what was happening, it would have been scary.

            “But then, how is he recovering at all -if you don’t mind my asking?” The princess silently cursed herself, making note to work on her bedside manner later. Given the line of work her best friends were in, one never knew when she might need it. Vio’s smirk widened and he chuckled a little.

            “We have no idea. For all intents and purposes,” Vio leveled his head to look at the wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom, “it’s a miracle.” Zelda tilted her head in surprise, not used to Vio calling anything a miracle, let alone having him talk about something so passionately only to not know the answer. “And don’t get me wrong –I knew there was little chance of Shadow recovering, and the sages warned me of his health dips, but…” Vio took his hat off with one hand and ran his empty fingers through his hair, “I wanted him to get better so badly. I-I guess I convinced myself that now that he was alive and with me, everything would be fine. I’d heal him somehow. ‘He’d be calling me a smart-ass and a cutie and something equally dumb in no time,’ I told myself. Even if he had health dips, they’d be nothing I couldn’t handle. I guess those thoughts made me more than a little… shocked when I saw his first.”

            “What do you mean?” Zelda asked.

            “Well, his first dip mostly consisted of a seizure, which wouldn’t have been so bad if one of the only consistent factors of them –up until now- was more cuts and scratches and glass shards.” The princess’s expression became alarmed.

            “Glass shards? How?” The clever Link shrugged. They were mental equals on this case; her guess was as good as his.

            “But it was especially scary since I hadn’t known what to expect. One moment I’m walking in my room, the next I see shadow thrashing on his –my, I guess- bed. Spasms pushed the mirror shards around in their wounds… it-it was bad.” The purple hero sighed and played with his hat on his lap, “but I convinced myself that these health dips would become less severe as time went on, so I wasn’t very worried once I’d taken care of the situation. It seemed logical at the time; that’s how the healing process usually works.”

            “That’s why the second health dip affected me so much, I guess. It must’ve been, oh, 1 am when I woke up to the sound of rasping. I looked to the main bed –I’m currently sleeping in a hammock in the corner- and all I see is some minor thrashing again. Not like the seizure, but like someone panicking. I go over, and blood’s pouring out of a wound in Shadow’s neck where the glass shard was shoved in his windpipe, pretty much cutting off his breathing. I got him patched up; thank Din. Red was in the hallway for whatever reason, so he helped me, but that’s when it really hit home how close to death Shadow could be at any moment. And that it wasn’t like a sword wound, where one could watch it heal and look for signs of infection and track the progress of recovery. His attacks can happen at _any_ time, and can send Shadow from _nearly_ being able to walk, straight back to barely being conscious. I guess that’s what makes this new situation all the harder. Before, every time a health dip occurred, it was accompanied by physical wounds that I could fix up; give me something to let me know that I _was_ helping him. Now… he’s just injured and there’s nothing I can do but sit by and hope, and, in case you haven’t noticed, patience isn’t exactly one of Link’s strengths.”

            “Anyway, I guess that’s why the symptoms started after that second crash. The insomnia seemed perfectly normal, so I shrugged that off pretty well. After all, the attack had happened while I was asleep, so it’d be only natural to lose interest in the idea of sleeping again. The lack of sleep made my fatigue all the more reasonable. Even so, at that point, Red would start giving me worried looks; Green would relieve me of chores early for ‘no reason’. Thinking back, even Blue must’ve noticed something was up since he would sidestep out of my way and offer to do my chores for me sometimes. Complaining, but still offering.”

            “I only started to think that something was off when I began losing concentration at my work. There were nights where I could just tell that I wouldn’t be able to sleep no matter what, so I’d get up and do some repairing and cleaning around the house. That night, I was fixing a window that Green and Blue had broken in a fight, and I remember stopping all of a sudden and thinking ‘Why am I even doing this? They’ll just break it again anyway. What’s the point? _Is_ there a point?’”

            “Despite my worries, I continued denying that anything was wrong. I tried to wave away the next batch of symptoms as easily as I had the first two; the window thing was because I didn’t want to be too far away from Shadow; I’ve always been irritable, and the lack of sleep was making it worse. Seeing the others began to hurt more and more, and I shrugged that off to not liking the thought of them worrying about me. I became sad as I thought about how little I actually knew of Shadow’s condition. I felt angry with myself for making the others take pity on me. I’d eat a lot to convince them I was fine, only to eat too much and become nauseous later, which made me hate myself even more for allowing myself to eat that much. Everything felt dramatic and eventually it got to the point where Red would have to unlock my door for me under the pretense of ‘knowing I was busy with Shadow’ to bring me food, refusing to leave until I ate at least a bite. I avoided leaving my room if possible, worrying that _this time_ , he’d have the attack that I wouldn’t be there for that would kill him.”

            “I guess that’s why –when the numbness came- I felt as close to relief as I could. Where all those emotions had eaten at me, was the hole in my mind that they’d left through, leaving only emptiness in their place. I was free of all that worry and guilt.”

            “That didn’t last. Eventually, without anything to really define one day from the next, my life was just a blur of waking up (if I fell asleep, of course), checking on Shadow, getting food from Red, _maybe_ going to do chores if nothing more than appearances, going to the bathroom, and trying to sleep. My memories for the days, weeks, maybe even months after I’d lost emotions scrambled and clouded over. I don’t even know how long I was in that state before a particularly bad health dip made me have to call the doctor to check on Shadow. I began to avoid Red and Blue as much as possible because it almost seemed like they were _bragging_. _Showing off_ that _they_ could emote; that _they_ knew what they’d done in the past week; that _they_ didn’t live in a constant state of nagging boredom –which is apparently the only state of being, other than numb, that isn’t an emotion.”

            “All I remember of the day the doctor came was talking about Shadow with him one moment, which was so normal I couldn’t tell you what had really happened if I tried, and then, all of a sudden, he’d asked me something about myself. I can’t remember what that was, but I remember looking him in the eyes and shrugging. Then, all of a sudden, he pulled me by the arm across the house, asking the others about my behavior and actions as he went. I remember that Blue had a couple things to say, Green had maybe one comment, and Red had apparently developed paragraphs’ worth of things to tell the doctor, each one making the guy even more mad.”

            “I guess I must’ve passed out at one point –I don’t think I’d eaten in about three days, so that was understandable- because the next thing I knew, I was in a hospital room. The doctor came after a while and asked me how I felt.”

            “I suppose I’d somehow been able to convince myself, through the months of self-loathing and sick and then _numb_ , that it was all perfectly normal in some weird, twisted logical way. Maybe I thought I’d get better alongside Shadow, or that Red’s kindness, Blue’s spirit, and Green’s support would combine as light’s primary colors and fix the pitch-black, indifferent funk I’d fallen in back into the world’s typical rainbow of emotions again. I don’t know.”

            “What I do know is that the first _real_ emotion I’d had for whatever amount of infinity I’d lived with major depressive disorder, was the fear of realizing how close I’d been to a place that would’ve made Shadow have to wake up to a world without me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me take the chance to reitterate a very important point to anyone who might be reading this: depression is a mental illness caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and is not a state of mind. People with depression cannot simply "cheer up" or "look on the bright side of things", but with medication, therapy, AND support, people can overcome it.


	11. Chapter 11

            Knowing that the rest of the house was empty –except for Shadow of course- Green made sure to revel in the fact that he didn’t have to try to stifle the noise of his re-entry. After clearing the space in the backyard (well, the space that Red wanted at least) of all of its trees, Green decided that he deserved a break. The original-colored Link left his boots by the backdoor, and as he walked from the first hallway into the foyer and spotted the door leading to all of the Links’ rooms, he remembered the task Vio had left for him 30 minutes earlier. Green sighed, his previously triumphant mood dimmed at the thought that he’d have to enter that depressing room while Vio’s off somewhere, probably being pampered by Zelda.

            Carefully remembering not to turn on any lights as the emerald-clothed hero made the short walk to Vio’s room was difficult, but seeing Shadow cough and rasp with his eyes calmly shut was slightly terrifying. Din, no wonder the doctor was always in a mad rush whenever he visited, this room put stressful and depressing up to a creepy level.

            The purple-clothed Link’s room was mostly built for efficient use of space than anything else. Two floor-to-ceiling windows –painted over in black for Shadow’s sake- were built on either side of the twin-sized mattress which stood in the middle of the room with the headboard on the opposite wall of the door. Lining the right wall were a couple of varnished ironwood bookshelves, which were surprisingly empty given there owner unless one factored in the fact that Vio never had the time to go into town to buy books and Red and Blue always argued over what type of book he’d like (Red is steadfast that he enjoys fiction, but Blue’s only ever seen him read non-fiction, so that _must_ be what he likes. Neither is wrong). The room had an onyx-colored carpet with lavender walls and gold-shaded edging. On the left side (when entering) was a desk that matched the bookshelves and the bed’s headboard, littered with papers and notes and journals that belonged to the amethyst teen. Around the bed sat many pieces of medical equipment, probably on loan from the hospital, all specially made to tell their readings through sound rather than light; however, the volume dials were always kept at the lowest still-readable setting possible, causing the near-blackness of the room’s visibility to be punctuated with soft beeps and whirrs. Din, how was Vio _sane_ while _constantly_ listening to those noises in the dark?

            Ignoring the negative thoughts, Green checked the patient’s vitals as well as he could in the low –almost naught- visibility, the way Vio had taught him. Breathing, raspy but otherwise normal. Heartbeat, regular. No signs of blood or glass, but in the dark it was hard for him to tell. How did Vio _do_ this? Did he adapt _night vision_?

            When Green was sure that he’d done all he could and that Shadow appeared normal (comatose, but normal), the hero left the stifling room. No wonder Red’s always so worried about Vio, _no one_ could possibly keep his or her sanity when faced with _that_ every day. Green suppressed a shiver as he continued on his originally intended destination, the kitchen. However, suppressing a chill was much easier than thoughts about the two purple-themed teammates.

            It had been a couple of weeks after their rescuing the princess (and later Shadow) when the loud sound of a person running down the hallway had woken the grass-colored Link. Immediately after, an even louder pair of footfalls (accompanied by Blue’s voice cursing at someone to just. Shut. Up. Does that stupid hothead _have_ a volume button, or is he deaf? Because he’s louder than whatever or whoever he’s whisper-screaming at) followed. Green forced himself to get up and investigate.

            The original-colored Link opened his door to see Vio already beginning to walk towards the foyer.

            “Where are you going?” Green asked his teammate. “They went the other way.”

            “I’m not following those idiots,” the violet-colored Link replied, the smirk clear in his tone. “If they wanted us to join them, Red would’ve been louder than Blue.”

            “What?” Vio turned his head to Green with a knowing smirk.

            “Red would’ve been shouting for us if we were invited, with Blue grumbling at him to not wake us up. Instead, Blue had to chase Red,” Vio turned away with a shrug, “but I never had any intention of joining their slumber party. I’m just hungry. Care to join me?”

            “Um, sure,” Green blinked before jogging to catch up with his purple-clothed quarter, “I gotta say, it’s still a little freaky that you can just- read us like that.”

            “You treat it like it’s some form of supernatural power,” the smirk still rested on Vio’s face, but had left his voice entirely, “when even an amateur psychologist could tell you what those two are up to.”

            “Wait, is that really all it is? Psychology?” Green barked a laugh when Vio rolled his eyes, “sorry, I guess it’s hard to think of it as not being creepily like telekinesis.”

            “Telepathy,” Vio corrected, “and thank you, but I assure you, if I had telepathy, things with our newest resident would be a lot easier.” Aaand there goes the smirk from his features. Good job, Green.

            “Oh,” the emerald Link scratched the back of his head, kicking out the negative thoughts, “why, what happened?”

            Vio took a long pause before answering as the pair reached the kitchen. The kitchen had two doors; one that led to the backyard (kept locked at all times. It would later become broken that way, with the only person knowing why being Blue, not that he’d ever admit that) and one that led to the dining room.

            “He had his first health dip yesterday,” the thoughtful Link said.

            “Oh, really? This early?” Green asked, his focus shifting towards his teammate. Vio nodded.

            “Yes, I found it surprising as well,” he tapped a rhythm on his chin as he thought for a moment. “I was expecting at least a month before something happened, or maybe some form of warning from Shadow’s vitals. It’s actually sort of interesting.”

            “What?” Green must have looked surprised.

            “Well, it’s alarming as well, of course. I thought that went without saying,” Vio leaned back against the counter and raised an amused expression at Green, “but I mean that seemingly out of nowhere, his health dramatically worsens –if anything like yesterday was a reference- to a scary degree. There’s no visible cause, and there’s no external factor that seems to trigger it. The whole situation’s sort of… fascinating in a purely scientific way. Naturally, it’s pretty horrifying to wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t been there.” Vio pushed off the counter as a smirk formed on his face, “but, at the same time, I figure it can only get better from here, especially now that I know what to expect, right?” Green couldn’t help but smile back at his teammate’s determined enthusiasm.

            “Right.”

            It’s hard to think that Vio has to take medicine twice a day now.

            Green had figured out that it was for some form of mental illness, but, thinking back to the times long before he ever needed the translucent yellow pill box, it’s hard to imagine what the medicine inside it could be for. Then again, it must be very important, because the doctor had to order specific medication from some town three days away from Hyrule. 

            The next day at breakfast, Vio explained to the others what exactly the health dip had entailed. He did the same with every incident thereafter, informing his teammates of symptoms and what to look out for, just in case. There were times when he obviously didn’t want to talk about them, and did so anyway. Green remembered the sheer admiration for Vio he felt while watching his teammate relive a particularly nasty three-day long multi-stage health dip. The multi-stages were definitely the toughest on Vio, because one couldn’t know until up to a week later whether an attack only had one phase or not. Green became very thankful -after the first one- that he wasn’t the medical expert, because he didn’t know how Vio dealt with that kind of stress. (Little did Green know that by the first multi-stage, Vio couldn’t remember how he dealt with stress like that either).

            Green walked into the kitchen to make himself a snack. It wasn’t often that he found himself alone –again, with the exception of Shadow- at the house, and the original-colored Link allowed himself to not care about worrying over cleaning up the mess he was making as he made himself a sandwich. Naturally, he’d clean it up later, but it was so rare for Green to not feel the need to be a role model of a perfect roommate. There was no _way_ he was letting the opportunity to be a pig escape from him.

            Green surveyed the kitchen as he ate his sandwich with his back leaning against the counter behind him.

            Zelda had designed the kitchen in a similar style to the Link’s grandparent’s house –a style she referred to as country- to make the Links feel more at-home. The cabinets, of which hung over every counter, were made of natural beech wood and had white stone knobs. The Links cooked using a brick-oven furnace in the corner next to the dining room door and a stove next to the inoperable back door. Green was leaning next to the sink, which was made of brushed metal. The counters were made of varnished cherry wood, and were littered with various items: empty heart potion bottles, dirty dishes, a few pens, sheets of paper and pamphlets and other things Red and Blue brought back from town, a translucent yellow-

            Green choked on his sandwich.

            Vio’s pill box.

            But, wait, didn’t Zelda just take Vio out to the-

            No.

            No, there’s no way.

            No, _he_ of all people couldn’t be stupid enough to actually-

            Vio’s pill box sat on the counter. It practically shined a bright warning beacon at Green.

            Because he _had_ been stupid enough in his haste to forget to bring it.

            Oh, shit.

            Oh, _shit!_

            Before Green could think about what he was doing, he’d grabbed the pill case and ran for the front door.

            They’d probably already reached town, but if Green ran, he might be able to catch up to them or the Chancellor at the castle and drop of Vio’s pills before he eats dinner so that he can have them with his food. 

            Green reached the door and grabbed his own jacket out of a pile in the closet. Since he was alone, he wouldn’t have to worry about cleani-

            The emerald Link stopped in the doorway, pillbox in hand and jacket on arm.

            Except he wasn’t alone, Shadow lie in Vio’s room, and, according to Vio’s scheduled detailing of health drops, the dark-robed hero was due for one at any time. Sure, one could count the coma, but Green couldn’t be sure that’d be the end of it. After all, the patient had had multi-stage attacks before. Attacks that had spanned days. And all the others had cuts and glass, but Vio hadn’t said anything about that this time so the coma might not even be-

            Green stood in the doorway, poised to leave. If he left, Shadow might have an attack with no one to help him. If he stayed, Vio could be in serious danger. Vio always had to give the doctor a one-week heads-up to order the pills since they came from a town three days away, so it’s not like he could just go get some more from the doctor. How long could Vio go without the pills? Would anyone from the castle come back for them? What if Shadow had a fatal attack? But what if he didn’t have one?

            Green looked down at the pills in his hand, and with a frustrated groan, he grabbed his head and slid down the doorframe. Would he even be able to help Shadow if he _did_ have an attack? What if an attack he couldn’t handle happened _and_ Vio needed his pills immediately and the Links lost both? What if he left and something happened to Shadow? Would Vio forgive him? Could _he_ forgive _himself?_

            _Shit, shit, SHIT! What do I do?! I can’t just leave Shadow, but Vio needs these pills and Din damn it all! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!_

            Green sat like that, debating, questioning himself with angering and frustratingly roundabout questions that all ate away at his nerves. He looked at the pills, the door to the hallway of rooms where Shadow lie, and the road that Vio had disappeared down. After either a minute or a century, he gave a frustrated sigh and stood, making his decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can _see_ the plot as it thickens behind the screen.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red finally gets a viewpoint in this mess

    Closing the door behind him as he reentered the house was the hardest thing Green had ever done, but if he ever wanted to be the great leader the team expected him to be, the emerald Link needed to trust his teammates’ ability to take care of themselves; especially if the teammate was Vio.

     

    Unbeknownst to the crisis his leader faced, Red calmly strolled along dirt paths that ran along the inside of the town wall. Dirt and bits of debris crunched under the smallest Link’s boots as he made his way, destination clearly pictured in his mind.

    He felt a little guilty, of course, for breaking his promise to Mrs. Loyahl, but he’d have to make up it for later. Right now, there was something important he needed to talk about, and the only person he could talk to had just arrived via the princess’s carriage.

    Again, there was some guilt on Red’s part for tricking Blue like that, but what could he say? If there was one thing that could completely stump Blue into not following him, it’d be acting “out of turn” for his personality.

    Red smirked. Again, what could he say? Vio had been teaching him well.

     _The lessons began a few weeks after Vio began taking the pills. Depression pills (Red knew because the doctor had told him, figuring that Red paid the most attention to his fellow Links’ health and therefore should know what Vio had dealt with all those months) take a while to begin working, so Vio began to sink into a hopeless slump. Up until about the middle of the third week, Vio had been more and more insistent that the pills weren’t working and that he was some kind of lost cause. He never outright said these things, but Red could tell just by looking at his amethyst teammate why he always eyed the pills warily whenever the ruby Link walked into his room with them. Apparently, the childish teammate had been the only one to notice. After the first week or so, Red would walk into Vio’s room with the tray of food and that day’s pills, and the purple Link would give his shorter comrade the most sincere-looking smile he could muster and tried to wave him away, saying that he’d take it from there. Red wouldn’t hear it. He always persuaded the “clever” Link to take the pills while he was still in the room._

     _Three and a half weeks in, the scarlet Link walked into the two patients’ room, ready for yet another silent argument. He was met with two friends and a surprise._

     _Vio’s smile was small but more real looking than any smile Red had seen from him in a while. The worried knot that had resided in Red’s stomach since the beginning of all the weird symptoms-that-he-hadn’t-known-were-symptoms unwound slightly. The purple teammate took the pills without question, and Red blinked a few times in surprise._

     _“Sorry,” the calm Link said quietly (he didn’t want to wake Shadow, who slept during the day. They’d later begin work on altering his sleep schedules. It’d be interrupted halfway through by an unexpected coma) after washing down the medication with some water. Red recovered._

     _“About what?” He replied, cocking his head to the side curiously. Vio chuckled, loosening the knotted worry a little bit more._

     _“The silent fuss I’ve been raising. Honestly, I don’t know where that came from.”_

     _“Well, no one said you were ‘the patient one’, so it’s okay.” Red paused unsure of what to do. Vio chuckled again and waved at Red to set the tray down on a flat-topped chest near the foot of his bed. All the tables were completely taken by medical equipment, so Red obliged. Vio pulled a chair from near the bed over to a circular table and sat down in it, motioning for Red to do the same in the chair already by the table. Pausing, Red decided it would be okay to ask, “How are you feeling?”_

     _“A little better, actually. The medicine must be taking effect,” a short pause, “Thank you for making me take it, by the way.”_

     _“Don’t worry about it!” Red smiled brightly at the pale-eyed teen as he sat to his right, “It was the least I could do. To be honest, I was getting worried that you might have been right.” Vio blinked, startled at Red for a second –_ he probably wasn’t expecting me to be so blunt, _Red thought to himself- before uttering a small laugh -a bit darker in tone than the chuckles but still real, and that was the important thing._

     _“Yes, I suppose the smile every time you walked in served more for my sake than yours, but, I do have to ask,” Vio leaned forward in his chair as he rested his elbows on his knees and propped his chin up with the top of his knuckles, his pointer extended. He looked like a psychiatrist about to ask his first question of the new patient, and Red suspected that whatever came next would be important._

     _“How did you know that I’d lost hope in the pills?” Red blinked at him._

     _“What do you mean? It was obvious.”_

     _“Not to Green or Blue,” Vio’s eyebrow rose in tandem with the corner of his mouth, giving him a disbelieving smirk. “You’re the only one who noticed_ , and _it came so naturally that you didn’t tell me that you were worried it was becoming hopeless, you told me that you were –and I quote- ‘worried that I might have been right.’ You not only picked up on the hopelessness I was feeling, but the direct reason I was feeling hopeless,” Vio’s smirk grew until he looked like a satisfied cat who’d just caught a mouse, “I’d been wondering lately how you had so much to say to the doctor about me, but I’d just thought that my actions were more obvious when you were around; however, you not only_ knew _how I was feeling, but picked up on it so easily that you’d based your emotions and reactions around my thoughts without even thinking about it and automatically assumed that I would understand when you brought it up.” The purple Link’s head tilted to the side and his expression was back to that of a doctor who’s slightly condescending to the patient, because he’s already formed the correct diagnosis in mind and is only asking questions because he wants the patient to understand what he’s feeling so that the doctor can properly explain._

     _It occurred to Red that he was not good at metaphors as he sat there, slightly gaping at his teammate._

     _“Well, I,” he began, trying to find the words, “It was- I don’t know- It was just,_ obvious _. You didn’t want to take the pills in front of me, you forced smiles, you still weren’t leaving your room for anything, and I just kind of… figured it out.”_

     _Vio straightened in his chair and gave Red knowing eyes and the brightest smile ever seen on the purple hero’s face._

     _“To be honest,” he began, “I thought it would take a lot longer before one of you idiots figured it out,” His smile, somehow, inched even wider, “but I’m really glad you didn’t.”_

    As it turned out, Red had learned how to read the other Link’s thoughts in a similar way to how Vio did. But where the clever Link connected possible logical reactions, crosschecked it with that specific Link’s personality, and then linked the most likely response from there, Red worked backwards. He wasn’t as good as his purple-themed mentor – he didn’t think anyone could be as good as Vio – but he was better at it than the other two, and Vio and him had become closer in the process.

    But now there was something that he needed to talk to the composed Link about, and thank Din the amethyst hero happened to have just arrived into town on the princess’s carriage. Red smirked (only members of the household would have noticed how Vio-esque the move was) as he approached the castle garden. _Where princesses have a history of sneaking out,_ Red thought to himself as he made his way to the right side of the castle, _Links have one for sneaking in._ and Red just happened to know where all the secret passages were thanks to the princess’s favorite (but not so cleverly named) childhood game with Link, Find the Passageway. (Honestly, for the wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom, she should’ve been able to come up with a better name than that.) The tunnel he planned to use now was barely more than a crawlspace to Zelda (a last ditch escape from the castle should the guards be overpowered or outnumbered in an attack), but that meant just enough room to be comfortable to Red.

    Vio sat in Zelda’s room, bored out of his mind, when he heard a soft knock. At first, he assumed that it was the princess and that she would walk in anyway. When the second knock came, he realized that the sound wasn’t coming from the door to the room at all. Instead, it resonated from a small panel of wood attached loosely to the lower part of one of the walls.

    “Hello?” he called out quizzically. He wasn’t exactly worried about an intruder coming from so small a space, just curious about the knocker.

    “Would you be proud if I told you that no one told me you were going to be here, and I figured this out on my own?” Vio smiled and took the panel off the wall to see Red, crouched in the natural Link-style army crawl position, hat held firmly in his right fist. The ruby Link’s hair was a mess, and his face and clothes were filthy from the crawl through the neglected tunnel. Yet, the emotional Link still lie on his stomach, beaming up at Vio, waiting for some form of cue to either continue or turn back. Vio smirked and gestured as though he were holding a door open to invite inside a guest.

    “Very.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An angst free chapter. It's a miracle. Hallelujah.


	13. Chapter 13

"So what brings you to this little corner of the castle?" Vio asked Red as he sat on a plush chair by the window. "It's a little out-of-the-way from the grocery store, I can't imagine you'd make this trip without good reason." Red smiled.

"Aww, do I have to have a reason to visit my smartest teammate!" He pretended to sulk. Vio chuckled.

"No, but you do. So what is it?" Red's fake pout cracked into a barely withheld smile.

"Not much really. Just, oh, I don't know." Red pulled a pill bottle out of his hands. "The fact that when Zelda came, she was too distracted by your obvious lack of self-care that she'd forget to pick up your pills off the counter." Red's smile widened into a pride-filled beam. Vio's eyes widened as momentary shock filled his face before they softened into amusement.

"And here I was thinking I'd get a free day pass," Vio snapped his fingers in a sarcastic show of defeat. "Although, I'm assuming that's empty given that I always dump all of my pills into that weekly thing." Red's face continued beaming as he shook the bottle. When the telltale rattle of shaken pills didn't come, he responded.

"Yep! I didn't actually have a lot of faith in the thought that Zelda would whisk you away from the house, and I worried that if I took some pills, you'd notice and think that I didn't trust you. But," he shook a finger like a parent scolding a child, "just because I don't have them right now, don't think you're off the hook that easily! I'm staying 'till I can tell Zelda! She'd be mad at me if I just let you not take them."

"Shoot. There goes Plan B."

"Was Plan B 'Distract Red and get him to Leave by Bringing Up the Fact that Blue is Probably having Trouble Carrying All the Groceries Home by Himself'?"

"Congratulations, you've passed the pop quiz with flying colors."

It didn't take much to be able to read the obvious pride in Red's eyes. He always adored these lessons. They felt much warmer than a lot of interactions the Links had as of late. Sure, Blue never failed to hang out with Red if the smaller teammate pouted at him enough, but Vio's company felt different than Blue's. Red always regarded Vio as the intellectual leader of the group. Where Green's plans failed to account for a certain obstacle, Vio never failed to supply the true leader with the details needed for the best strategy. Then, at the end of the day, the lavender hero took no more congratulations than any of the other teammates. If Blue had turned out to be the smart one, Red had no doubt that the sapphire teenager would remind everyone of it at any moment possible, gloating and soaking in the attention like a self-entitled sponge. Red loved to hang out with Blue, don't get him wrong, but too much praise went straight to the angry Link's hothead.

Vio, however, humbled himself after their first adventure. He didn't gloat about his intelligence, never complained when he had to take up more work because he was the only one skilled enough to do it, and never hesitated to set about using his innate cleverness to help those around him. Red didn't have to worry about Vio judging him because the purple-hatted hero seemed to completely believe that the first step of fully finding true intellectual potential was to have an open mind about every person.

"Aside from my medication," Vio waved his hand dismissively to close the topic, "is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Red thought for a moment.

"Not really. Blue's been acting a little weird, but he's probably just mad cause he feels like he can't do anything to help with this whole situation. Also," Red giggled, "I think he's starting to feel bad for teasing me." Vio quirked a skeptical eyebrow.

"I'm not entirely sure that's true." He commented.

"Nah, you just haven't seen him enough. He's really starting to curb his temper." Vio stood in skeptical silence, checking to see whether or not his teammate was joking. When Red didn't start laughing, the clever Link shrugged.

"Well I hope you're right. The last thing we need is for him to yell at another child wanting an autograph. Nayru knows if he'll be able to scrape together another barely acceptable public apology." Red giggled again, hardly trying to contain his childish delight in the newly recalled memory.

"Remember last time he had to give a public apology?"

"Unfortunately."

"What was your favorite part? Mine was 'Next time some guy cuts me in line I guess I shouldn't call him an asshole and punched him. That was sorta uncalled for, even if he did have an attitude.'"

"I think the entire thing was a masterpiece of sheer ineptitude at public speaking, but the part where he stopped because he needed to reorganize the flashcards in his sleeve was absolute brilliance."

"I remember that! He dropped a couple on the stage! And wasn't he halfway through a sentence?!"

"Well where else could he have ended the note? The end of the sentence? That's just insane."

"Right?! Did you get to see Mr. Shusenn's face?! He looked like he was going to blow up!" Rondel Shusenn, of course, being the chief of the street knights and the father of the teenager Blue had punched. He did, by all legal means, have every right to throw Blue into the street knights' jail, but being a public figure meant the Links could get away with a lot more than most other people in town.

Blue, so far, was the only one of the Links who'd ever needed it.

Vio secretly kept up the hope that, once Shadow could freely walk around, that this would remain the case.

Before the two Links could continue with their idle conversation, the doors to the room opened. Zelda, followed by a tall Shiekah woman, brusquely entered and passed both Links without any sign that she'd noticed their presence.

"Now you're duties will be rather difficult to juggle. Given that I am very close to the age of legal inauguration, this shouldn't last. Should you find your duties stacking too high I would be happy to help. Between ceremonies I typically find that I have very little to do, and my studies are rather easy, so I hope you should feel no hesitation to ask for my help should you need it. The sudden promotion will mean that you will have to begin immediately, with rapid training followed by immediate tackling of newly learned jobs. However, I have it on good faith that you are more than capable of tackling these duties if given the time." During her little speech, Zelda went around the room, searching for something. When her face lit up that she'd found it, she picked up a scroll and held it out for the woman. "Here's the list of duties that need to be taken care of by the end of the week."

The Shiekah kneeled as she took the scroll. Zelda placed both of her hands on the woman's shoulders. "I have no doubt that you'll do wonderfully." The Shiekah stood and nodded.

"Thank you, princess. I promise that I will perform my new duties to the best of my abilities."

"I know you will. Thank you, Impa. You may leave." The woman turned and began reading the scroll as she left.

It took a couple of seconds for either Link to react. Luckily, Zelda seemed more than prepared to break the silence.

"The new chancellor." She informed as she turned to the table. "I recently found that the last one couldn't quite understand how to prioritize my schedule. Impa's family has worked as dutiful and rather skilled servants to the royal blood for as far back as it goes, so I have no worries of her repeating his errors." She paused, seeming to notice something. "Red? What are you doing here?"


	14. Chapter 14

“Blue-y! I’m hungry!”

“Then eat something.”

“Rose doesn’t know how to cook, Blue.”

“Don’t you, Shae?”

“No.”

“Doesn’t your mom leave food somewhere?”

“Yeah, but Rose doesn’t like lasagna. She says the chunks in the sauce taste weird.”

“Cause they do!”

“Not my problem.”

“Hate to interject, but you’re kind of our babysitter. Isn’t feeding us the definition of ‘your problem’?”

“Shut up, Lee.”

“It’s fine, Lee. I’ll just make something small for Rose and Shae.”

“Thank you, _Faruin!_ ”

“You can shut up too, Shae!”                                                                                         

“Oh no, you did NOT just tell ME to shut up! Don’t think I won’t fight you just because you’re some hot shot legendary-“

“I agree with Blue. Just for the record.”

“Nobody asked you, Lee!”

“Shae, if you wanna be able to eat, I suggest you stop talking. I know it’s a typical punishment to send a child to bed without dinner and I’m sure neither Blue nor Lee would have any qualms abou-”

“Screw you!”

“Language!” Blue shouted back towards the kitchen from his spot in the armchair. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger before tuning out the eldest girls’ arguing. Lee chuckled.

“You’re one to talk. I’ve heard you spout worse curse words than that when you were in a good mood.” He commented amusedly.

“Yeah but not while there were little kids around. I know better than to cuss around toddlers.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll give you that. Not around toddlers.” The loud banging of pots rang out from the kitchen as Faruin prepared something for her youngest and oldest sister.

“I’m gonna go check on V.I.P.,” Blue informed, standing up, “I haven’t heard them for a while.” 

Lee stood up too, “then I’ll go make sure Shae doesn’t burn down our kitchen. As much as she annoys me, I have a feeling going to school with Turgeon is the exact opposite of what she wants.” Blue chuckled as Lee turned on his heel and strode towards the kitchen.

V.I.P., as it turns out, were cautiously approaching a sleeping Zelda-Terra in a form of the game Cucco. Whoever got the closest to her (you’ll have to ask Vio when you get home whether chain-chomps have genders) without waking her up –because apparently chain chomps have very sensitive hearing and the closer you get, the easier it is to wake them up- won. Vee was winning by two games.

“Do you wanna play with us, Blue?” Ingo whispered excitedly, eyes lighting up.

“It’s fu-un!” Pharia quietly sing-songed.

“No thanks.”

“Aww! C’mon!” She begged.

“Nope. Sorry.”

“We can play something else,” Pharia suggested, voice on the edge of a pout.

“Not really in a playing mood right now.” Blue replied. Pharia crossed her arms and stuck her lower lip out in childish defiance.

“I bet Red would play with us if he were here.” She mumbled angrily. Blue felt himself tense slightly, remembering the reason he was there in the first place.

“Yeah, probably,” he agreed, rubbing the back of his neck to try and relieve the tension there before any of the kids saw it.

Unfortunately, subtlety had never been Blue’s strong point, and he immediately saw Pharia’s defiance fall in slight guilt and surprise. Ingo gave her a look.

Vee stayed quiet throughout this exchange with a focused look on her face.

There was a tense, silent minute in the room.

“Welp,” Blue interrupted suddenly, breaking the silence with a clap. ZT woke up with a yelp at the sudden noise. “I better go check on the others in the kitchen. You guys have fun with your-“ he noticed the lethargically blinking eyes of the Loyahl pet. “Oh. Sorry. I’ll just. Yeah.” Blue turned and left the room before the young triplets could object.

The kitchen, Blue decided, was probably what pure chaos looked like.

Apparently, Shae _had_ managed to light something on fire. Lee was running in with a bucket of water, only to be held back by Faruin who was shouting that the fire Shae had set _only got worse with water_ which was a concept that concerned Blue much more than he’d ever admit. Shae was freaking out, exclaiming that she was sorry, and she didn’t know it would overflow if she turned the temperature up too high, and not to tell mom and dad because it was an accident, and what do we do what do we do what do we do. Faruin was using the hand that wasn’t keeping Lee from throwing the bucket of water on the fire to get salt, which Blue could only imagine worked if she needed to exorcise the demon anti-water fire, a thought that only made him _more_ concerned. Apparently, that was both correct and incorrect since throwing salt seemed to be helping put it out, but there was in no way any witchcraft used that Blue could see.

Rose sat at the table coloring on a piece of paper. 

Blue didn’t know if that made him more or less worried about the entire situation. 

The present Link turned and tried to leave before anyone noticed him, but once again his lack of subtlety led him to kick a pan that had somehow ended up there during the commotion.

Faruin turned towards the noise. “Oh, so THAT’S where the saucepan went!” she laughed in relief. “I was worried we’d lost it when Shae threw it back.”

“You _threw_ a pan?” Blue asked, quickly giving up his earlier goal. He took the pan off the floor and passed it to Faruin’s outreached hand.

“I was surprised! There was a fire!” She retorted, gesturing towards the blackened pan.

A knock at the door interrupted her from continuing. Blue thanked his luck as he excused himself from the room to get the door.

The teen quickly retracted the gratitude when, as luck would have it, he opened the door to find a royal messenger.

“Hello, sir! I’m here for a Mr. ---“ the messenger trailed off as she checked a slip of paper, “Link?”

Thoughts of all three of his teammates, specifically the M.I.A. status of a certain scarlet themed one, immediately filled his mind and it was all he could do to ask the only reasonable question that came to mind.

“How did you know I was here? This isn’t my usual address.” The messenger chuckled slightly, putting Blue’s nerves even more on edge.

“Yeah, thank Farore! I hate carriages, so I’m not licensed to ride in any of them, and if I had to run all the way to the Link residence, it would’ve been a long night.” She bounced slightly between the balls of her feet in royal messenger fashion. “I was a little confused when I was told the message was for a Link at the Loyahl building. At first I thought they meant L-O-Y-A-L loyal, which I was like ‘why is he at the courthouse’ -cause you know royal messengers have code words for certain public buildings and loyal building is ours for courthouse- ‘did Mr. Blue Link get in trouble with another knight’s kid again?’ but then I realized they meant L-O-Y-A- _H_ -L as in Ms. Loyahl’s place, which got me even more worried. But then the-“ Blue raised an eyebrow at the messenger, and she caught herself. “Sorry, kind of a rambler. Anyway, there was no actual scroll. It’s a verbal message.” She cleared her throat.

“Dear Blue, I am up to here,” the messenger held her hand up to above her head with a look that said that the sender had specifically asked her to perform that motion, “with all the information that you Links have been keeping from me. I’m this close,” the messenger moved her hand down and put her thumb and forefinger close together as her face set in another look, “to forcing all of you to live in the castle.”

“Just to let you know, she shouted for a lot of the rest of the message. I’m not going to do that because we’re in a residential but just imagine that I’m shouting really angrily. I’ll tell you when to stop.”

“Because apparently you’re all too damn busy to tell me anything if I don’t forcibly drag it out of you, so maybe living in –what did you call it- a ‘stonework prison’ would break all of you enough to tell me things. Like, oh, I don’t know, the fact that one of you was diagnosed with major depressive disorder! Because is that really so much to ask? That I be told when my friends are diagnosed with medical disorders that literally have ‘major’ in their Din damned title?! I mean Nayru knows if Red found a way to sneak into my room, which I didn’t find creepy _at all_ , to talk to Vio, you all should’ve found _some way_ to tell me ‘oh yeah, just to let you know, no big deal or anything, but-”

“She got interrupted at this point by another Mr. Link. He was dressed in purple. She’s asked that their argument not be retold to you. That’s the end of the shouting.”

“Anyway, Red told me that he kind of abandoned you right outside of the village. I figured you’re probably worried about him, so I just wanted to let you know that he’s at the castle with Vio and me, and that you’re welcome to join us if you want.”

“Sincerely, I say sincerely and not ‘love’ because friendship is a two-way street and I’m not feeling the friendship from any of the Links so I’m sure not giving any, Princess Zelda.”

Blue stood for a moment, trying to decide if he should feel happy that Red was with Vio and Zelda and therefore safe, guilty that he’d upset the princess, angry that Red had ditched him to go hang out with Vio, or sad that he couldn’t accept the invitation. He didn’t get the chance to choose.

“Well, I’d better be off. Lots of deliveries to make!”

“Oh, here,” Blue suddenly chimed in, startled out of his thoughts, “I’ve got, like, five rupees on me. Sorry if it’s a small tip compared to what you usual- what?” Blue’s eyebrows drew together in confusion when the messenger lifted her hand and shook her head at him.

“I don’t accept tips. I got this job cause of my passion for running, not money. Thank you for the thought, though!” With a wide smile she once again said farewell, turned, and dashed from the doorstep towards her next location. Blue blinked, then blinked again. Since that didn’t help the ever-growing confusion in his mind, he closed the door and made his way back into the kitchen.

Where he once again walked in on a chaotic shouting match.

Wonderful.

Unfortunately he was immediately spotted by Faruin, so he didn’t get the chance to leave.

“Blue would you _please_ explain to Shaera-“

“DON’T YOU _DARE_ USE MY FULL NAME RIGHT NOW, _FARU_!”

“EXPLAIN to Shaera why it would be a bad idea to begin teaching Rose how to swordfight?”

“IF YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH TO HOLD A SWORD, YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH TO LEARN HOW TO USE IT!”

“That’s like saying if you’re old enough to reach the reigns, one should start being able to drive carriages.”

Blue sighed as loudly as he could and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Blue?” Lee asked, voice full of concern. “Is something wrong?” Blue shook his head.

“Nah, just got some stuff on my mind.” He made the mistake of looking at Lee, who stood as the picture of a doctor talking to a stubborn patient. The eldest Loyahl child gave Blue a moment to amend his answer and continued when he didn’t.

“Then who was at the door?” Blue sighed again and rubbed his forehead.

“Royal messenger.” Lee waited again before resigning to his fate of dragging every piece of information out of his friend. Shaera and Faruin had gone silent by now, watching the interaction with differing reasons for interest.

“And…?” Lee asked.

“It was Zelda.” Rose gasped excitedly from where she sat at the table, and Blue cursed his Din damned mouth as the youngest jumped up and ran over to jump at his legs.

“WHAT’DSHESAYWHAT’DSHESAYWHAT’DSHESAY?!” The girl demanded, brown eyes bright. Lee picked up his youngest sister with a little chuckle. His efforts were rewarded with her angrily trying to squirm away from his grip.

“What do we say when we ask people for something?” He hinted at her. The strawberry-blonde groaned in frustration at her oldest brother.

“ _Please_ tell me what she said?” She amended. Lee gave the top of his sister’s head a kiss before setting her down with a “much better”.

Blue paused, waiting to see if Lee would dismiss him from answering the question, but the boy looked like he wasn’t going to let his friend off easily this time. The Link sighed again.

“She said thatRed was over at the castle.” Blue mumbled to the floor. Lee lifted his eyebrow in the doctor face again. Rose groaned in frustration and leaned in close to see if she could maybe understand what he said better. Ingo and Pharia snuck into the kitchen wondering why the shouting had stopped.

“Gonna have to ask you to repeat that,” Leoni crossed his arms, completing the look.

“She said thatRed was over at the castle.” He repeated, slightly louder, but still to the tiles. Shae snickered. Vee wandered in looking for her earlier playmates.

“Blue, you’re going to have to speak up.” Faruin suggested.

“Red’s at the castle?!” Rose asked in awe, her stance working in her favor. She brown eyes sparked with wonder as she grinned up at Blue. The Link in question nodded, and the room was quiet for a moment as it soaked in this information.

“What?!”

“Wait! So he doesn’t have time to come babysit us because he’s hanging out with the Princess! That’s so rude!”

“Is he okay? Is he hurt or something?” a gasp, “WAS HE THROWN IN THE CASTLE JAIL?!”

“Are we really that-“

“-boring that he ditched us-“

“-for the princess?”

“EVERYONE CALM DOWN,” Lee shouted above his siblings. When the noise only slightly lowered, he continued repeating the statement until they followed the command either out of respect or frustrated concession.

“Let Blue speak!” He began to turn back to his friend but looked over his shoulder to tack on “for Nayru’s sake!”

“He’s over at Zelda’s castle because he needed to talk to Vio,” Blue amended. Faruin looked worried.

“Vio’s at the castle? Why?”

Blue continued rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t actually know.” He thought about it for a moment, before remembering the conversation he’d had with Red earlier that day, “wait, I remember seeing a carriage coming from our house while Red and I were on our way here. That’s the only way I can think of that Vio could have gotten up here, and I guess Red recognized it or something and went to talk to Vio? Again, I don’t know.” Silence filled the kitchen. “She invited me to go over too.”

Rose gasped excitedly again. “CANICOMECANICOMEC-“ Lee picked her up for a second time.

“Sorry, Rose,” Blue looked up from the floor and smiled sadly at her, “If I’m not going, then you _definitely_ can’t go, and even if I could, she sounded pretty upset over the message. I don’t think now’s a good time for anyone to arrive uninvited.” She looked disappointed, but Blue got the feeling that Rose understood.

“Wait, but why can’t you-“ Lee started. His face twisted in realization. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Blue’s shrug matched his smile, “I might not be a good babysitter, but I know better than to just leave my charges because I was invited somewhere else.”

Again, silence.

“You know what I think everyone needs?” Vee began from her place near the doorframe. “A game.”

“Viacka…” Faruin began, a warning in her tone.

“Let’s all play house.” She continued. “Blue, you can be the dad.” A small smile formed on her face. “And we all ran out of groceries in a weird kitchen accident.” She walked over, grabbed Blue’s hand and started him towards the door. “So the dad needs to go and shop for more food. Lee, you can be the babysitter.”

Shae’s green eyes sparked in realization before a cat-like smirk grew on her face. She began pushing the stubborn Link from between his shoulders, “and the rest of us can be the kids, left in the babysitter’s care.” When Blue caught on to what was happening and started to pull away, Ingo, Pharia, and Faruin sprung to life and began pushing him out the door. Rose lept down from Lee’s grip and joined them.

“If Momma comes back,” Pharia chimed, “we’ll tell her a royal summoner came ‘round-“

“-and requested your presence-“

“-so you couldn’t say no!”

“I don’t really think you’re mother OR your father would-“

“Lee can take care of us, Blue!”

“Yeah, Blue-y! Go visit the Princess! And tell her I said hello!”

Blue tried to pull away from the kids, to try and talk some reason into them, but there were just so many kids. He was surrounded.

“I’ll take good care of them.” Lee promised as he opened the door for his siblings and grabbed his friend’s arms. “Now, go!”

They collectively threw their official babysitter out the door and slammed it. The sapphire Link heard the sound of a lock behind him. He turned and banged on the door and shouted to be let back in.

“We’re not opening this door!” Shae’s muffled voice shouted, “Now go get your man!”

“Ignore her! Well… I mean- not on the fact that you should go but the part where she insinuated that-… WHATEVER! Just go to the castle before we have to come out there and drag you kicking and screaming!” Leoni’s voice commanded.

There was a beat of silence where the ocean-colored hero stood leaning against the door, deciding what to do.

A smile grew on Blue’s face as he hit the door with the palm of his hand. Blue jumped to every other stone on the path leading away from the house.

Lee smiled from the other side of the door, recognizing an unspoken thanks when he heard one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so I'mma explain a few things that you don't need to know in order to understand this chapter but are certain headcannons that I have for this universe.
> 
> First of all, cursing. So, as all of you have probably noticed, I've changed things like "Thank God" into one of the goddesses names. However, a couple people have reached out to me as to why the names change and when. Basically, people use certain goddesses' names depending on these three factors; personal beliefs, domain of goddess, and favor. It's all based on context. Let's start with easiest to explain: domain of goddess. Depending on why you're using the term, you change the name. For example, in this one Leoni exclaims "Nayru's sake!". Nayru is the Goddess of Wisdom. It's not that far of a stretch to say she's the Goddess of Mind. As such, sanity would fall under her domain. By saying "Nayru's sake" he's saying they're all acting insane. Also, more often than not, Din is used for dammit because a) people prefer to use alliterations if they can and b) since she represents fire and power, I assume she also represents anger and passion and people usually use that curse either when they're hurt or when they're very frustrated and both of those fall under that domain. Second of all: favors. This one's easiest to show through example. Messengers and Postmen want the wind to be on their side on runs, so they typically thank Farore no matter what they're saying it about to try and get wind to favor them. Lastly: personal beliefs. Some people put more faith in Farore, others Din, others Nayru.
> 
> Second, difference between messengers and postmen. First difference between them is that all messengers are women and all postmen are men. (In the way that Harry Potter calls the girls "witches" and the boys "wizards". It doesn't mean anything by it, it's just a difference in title.). The difference between royal messengers/postmen and regular messengers/postmen are what you'd think. Royal messengers are specially hired and trained at the castle and only deal with mail to/from the castle while non-royal messengers/postmen are hired and trained by the post master and deal with the rest of the mail.
> 
> I'm pretty sure there was a third, but I can't think of it right now. Chain chomps naturally live in mountains. They hibernate in the winter. There are breeds that can live underwater. It's considered inhumane to own them unless one lives along the beach. I'll update the description if I think of what I was really gonna write.
> 
> Cucco is the exact same game as Chicken only if you win by too much the other players get to start a one-sided pillow fight against you for about two minutes.
> 
> It's a fun game.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In order to completely understand the following couple of chapters, please go back and re-read chapters 3 and 8. Thank you for reading this, you guys! We're in the home stretch now!

Green had tried to continue his yard work, but his worries scattered his thoughts too far to get any real work done. After the fifth time stopping between targets to stare at the back entrance to the house in contemplation, the leader had called it a good day’s work and went to the only place he could think of to go.

That’s how the trademark themed Link found himself sitting in Vio’s room, talking to its current occupant.

“I don’t know how Vio does it,” Green mumbled to Shadow, his hand raking through blonde locks before finally resting on the edge of the patient’s mattress. He earned a coughing fit in reply. A minute into it, the leader awkwardly worried as to how or if he needed to help. Luckily, the violet-haired Link’s breathing evened out quickly. A new thought occurred to Green and he looked up at the patient’s face expectantly.

When he saw that Shadow’s eyes were still closed peacefully, Green sighed.

“Like that right there. Just-… how? Do you start coughing a lot? Are they always that easy to deal with? They can’t be. But he’s-, he’s never once told me anything about you coughing. Oh Din, did he think that you woke up the first time you did that too?” Green shuddered, “No wonder the doctor told me that he needs to get out of this room more often, oh my Din.”

There were a few raspy breaths like Shadow was trying to protest the last statement. Green looked contemplatively at the sleeping Link for a moment before sighing.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about. I happen to know for a fact that if Vio hadn’t wanted to be with you this whole time, he wouldn’t have.” It struck Green that he was essentially talking to himself just as much as he was talking to the sleeping Link, but the grass-colored hero chose to ignore that thought. “All he wants is for you guys to be able to hang around again. I swear, you guys give Red and Blue a run for their money in the ‘closest’ department. And those two are really close, in fact,” Green chuckled, “Zelda calls them the ‘Corny Love Poem’ because of that old starter to love poems; roses are RED and violets are BLUE.”

“I’m going to warn you now, though. If you and Vio keep up the whole ‘connected at the hip’ thing after you get to start walking around with us, she’s gonna give you two a nickname too. Just thought I’d tell you… even though, from what Vio says, you seem like the kind of person who wouldn’t mind. Oh, who am I kidding? You and Zelda would probably be in cahoots over choosing it. You’d tease Vio with the discarded ideas.”

Shadow rasped for a few breaths and coughed once to clear it. The mirth the original-colored Link held in his voice died as he watched his newest teammate. He looked guiltily down at the floor.

“…I’m sorry I never really visited you before now. I-… I wasn’t really comfortable about you still hanging out here. Well, I’m still not quite sure about it, to be honest. But… well remember when you were still awa-. Okay, stupid question. But still, when you were awake and Vio was taking his pills-”

“Did Vio tell you about the pills? I hope I didn’t just tell you for the first time, that’s Vio’s thing to tell you about. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah.” 

“I was doing something in the dining room when Vio walked in with all these black lines and marks on his face. I didn’t want to ask, because, I don’t know, it seems like the kind of thing where if you call it out, it disappears before anyone else can see it, like a unicorn, I guess, but with a mature…r myth. Are leprechauns a more mature myth than unicorns? Are there more or less mature- nevermind, it doesn’t matter. The point is I didn’t say anything, but I guess Vio saw, or read, or whatever what I was thinking." 

“Can he do that for you? I mean- okay, again, not important, nevermind,” 

“He told me that while he was putting a bone that you broke during that last health dip in a cast, you kept grumbling about how bored you were with staying still. So, to make up for your boredom, you took the quill pen on the table and started drawing on his face when he was trying to work, and that the lines  were so bad because he tried to ignore you by focusing on building the cast, which only encouraged you.”

“That in and of itself wasn’t what started me thinking you were okay. That was actually really rude of you. But while he was talking about it, he got this weirdly… _fond_ smirk on his face. Like… I don’t know if you understand how weird that is for him. Well, I don’t know if you can even hear me, but I especially don’t know if you can understand this. I mean, it’s not like Vio doesn’t _smile_. He smiles in, like, amusement or pride a lot but _fondness?_ That caught me off guard.”

Shadow kept breathing evenly. Green took it to be a good sign.

“So, I guess the moral of that long story was that it’s not _you_ that the doctor wanted him to get away from. It’s mostly just this dark, hopeless atmosphere. For example… the window. The- he’s got it painted over with black paint so thick that he must’ve smelled paint fumes for at _least_ half a week. It smells like medicine, there’s paperwork and mess everyw- is that a _medical waste bin_?!” Green stood up and moved to the offending receptacle. “He uses syringes so often that he had to purchase his own, personal _medical waste bin_?! Farore give me courage, that’s the- I don’t even know what I’m feeling. It’s like- I’m sad, but for some reason I feel like I expected this in some way. Like, this is so _Vio_ it’s sa-,“ Another shallow coughing fit startled him out of his rambling. He waited, trying to piece his thoughts together for what he was going to say after the fit ended.

Shadow started hacking. Green startled. The hero turned on his heel and watched the prone figure on the bed warily. The hacking and coughing only got worse as the leader quickly walked to the black-clothed teen’s side.

“’Um, Shadow? I don’t quite know what to do here. Uh, I heard somewhere that hitting a person’s back worked. So, I guess I’m gonna lift you up a little a- Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Shadow? Is that- Oh Din. Uh, I-It’s alright. You’re gonna be o- oh shi- OH, SHIT! WHAT THE- U-UH, UH, DAEY!”


	16. Chapter 16

Zelda had not taken the news very well.

It had been ten minutes, and Zelda was still not taking the news well. However, she was taking it slightly better, so Vio considered that a sort of victory. Part of being a princess is having a level of stubbornness, and ten minutes is relatively short time considering she used to hold infamous week-long grudges back when they were children.

That princess was currently pacing the room with her hands behind her back, switching between glaring at the door, glaring at Red, and glaring at Vio. She’d sent away a messenger with a long verbal message for Blue. Red had told Zelda at the time (they’d been forbidden from speaking after the messenger left) that he was babysitting, and Blue would never leave a job until it was done. Zelda retorted with “I know what I’m doing, despite what the rest of you may believe. Shut up.”

Anytime Red –because Vio knew better than to challenge her when she gets like this- opened his mouth to try and explain or calm his friend, she sent him a glare that visibly sent a shudder down his spine. Every time. It lost its comedic appeal after the second time and had since then become an annoying reminder of what happened when two stubborn forces tried to counteract each other. Nothing productive. The answer is nothing productive.

Most of her glares, the purple Link noticed, were directed at him. Vio figured it would be better to ignore this fact. After all, he deserved it in a way for not telling her about the pill box when they were still close enough to conveniently get it; still, even if he WANTED to acknowledge the extra attention, he knew it wasn’t important enough to discover whether or not the visible shuddering on Red’s part was simply due to the Link’s dramatic personality or if the glare was legitimately that effective.

All in all, the atmosphere was just as awkward as the carriage ride. Possibly more awkward now, because Red was sitting next to Vio with the expression of a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Or a kicked puppy. Or both. The clever Link had only looked at him by side-long glances this whole time since Zelda became upset, so it wouldn’t be that far of a stretch to say both.

Zelda suddenly stopped pacing and wheeled on the two sitting figures. She opened her mouth, closed it, glared at them while she thought, and then opened it again.

“I-I just- Do you guys think I’m stupid?! Do you all think that I can’t handle myself?!” She paused. Not to give the Link’s any chance to reply, just to give the illusion that they were allowed to answer. Vio elbowed Red in the side when the smaller Link opened his mouth. “Well?! Because, let me tell you, HIDING INFORMATION isn’t something you do to someone who you believe can handle themselves. You hide information from CHILDREN AND TRAITORS, NOT YOUR CHILDHOOD FRIEND.” Again, Red opened his mouth. Vio pinched his arm and shook his head in a way that only Red could see. _No, Red. Do not try to negate her argument with the surprise party joined Link threw for her last year. For Nayru’s sake, I taught you better than this._ Red shut it. “I mean, for- for _fuck’s sake!_ Do you think I’m trying to hurt you, Vio?! Do you think I took you away from that pitch-black room just to be _mean?!_ You- you-!” Zelda groaned loudly, buried her hands in her hair and threw her head back, all in frustration. The combined motions caused for her to lose her balance, but she gracefully spun in a circle to keep from falling. To anyone who wasn’t her friend, they wouldn’t have even noticed the shift in her center of weight. To Red and Vio, that just hit the message home deeper. She returned her stare to the sitting figures, opened and closed her mouth a few times with canceled words. She threw her hands up in defeat, groaned in finality, and continued her pacing.

This process repeated. The purple-clothed Link lost track of the time in her pacing. It felt like it took a long time before knocks rang out on the door to her room. When they did, Red tilted his head like he was confused, but both he and Vio knew who was at the door. Vio couldn’t guess why Red wouldn’t want the others to know about the shared skill, but it was the ruby-colored Link’s business, and the clever hero wouldn’t intrude even if he wanted to.

Zelda, naturally, moved to answer the door. Vio and Red were currently facing away from the entrance due to the way the chairs were facing, and the purple-themed Link forced himself to continue sitting straight in the chair. Red, however, felt no qualms about turning around until he stood on his knees facing the door and could grip the back of the chair comfortably. Vio heard the door open and saw Red wave enthusiastically out of the corner of his eye. The amethyst Link stifled a smirk.

“Hi, Blue. Glad you could join us. Please feel free to take a seat.” Her voice was deceptively sweet, and unlike when it had been just Red and Vio, Blue fell for it.

“All right,” Vio heard Blue’s heavy footsteps as he entered, “I’m kind of surprised right now, to be honest. You sounded really pissed off in your letter.”

 _Oh Nayru, Blue. Please, we both know you’re smarter than that, Din dammit._ Red was practically shouting in his mind, but in the external world, the childish Link giggled.

“Well could you really blame me?” Zelda evaded. Her light footsteps could be heard skirting around Blue and grabbing him a chair. Red turned back around so that he was sitting straight forward. Zelda put the chair on Vio’s other side, so that Red and Blue were splitting him, apparently deigning Red and Blue in too much trouble to sit next to each other. The hot-headed Link must have looked confused. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t know what happened yet. Well, here, sit down and I’ll tell you.”

The only person who didn’t seem the feel the tension as Blue sat down was the azure hero himself. The strong-willed Link then proceeded to _take off his boots. Oh my Din, Blue. Please don’t push her any further. I’m going to die of embarrassment. Vio please stop him._ Vio elbowed Blue in the side.

“Ow! What the f-“

“I realize your feet must be tired, but try to remember that even though we are in the presence of our friend, she’s still a figure of royalty. Have some respect for both of those titles –as well as your fellow teammates- and don’t expose any of us to the less-than-fresh state of your feet.” The addressed teen blinked.

“Are you asking me to put my boots back on?” Vio gave him a look and nodded. “Oh, uh, okay.” Red giggled again from Vio’s left.

Zelda cleared her throat. “If we’re done?” It wasn’t really a question, but the rest of the Links nodded anyway. “All right. Allow me to fill you in, Blue, on your clever teammate’s… _shenanigans_ these past few hours.” Blue snuck a look over at Vio with a raised eyebrow. Her voice had been so obviously strained that he was beginning to worry.

“Um, okay. What did he do?” The ocean-themed hero asked. Vio crossed his legs.

“Well, let’s start in the beginning, shall we?”

“I snuck my way out of this castle so that I might pay my more absent friends a visit. You and Red are always sneaking into the garden to say hi, and I figured that Green and Vio were probably lonely all the way out in the wilderness like that. When I got there, Green was outside losing a swordfight with some of the trees in your backyard,” Vio, who had no idea about the actions of his leader, raised an eyebrow, “I have no idea. Anyway, we sat down and talked for a little, and do you know what he told me?” Naturally, none of them did, but Vio could guess pretty well, “he told me that _Vio_ is _also_ suffering from a major illness. Now, I’m sure this _isn’t new news to the rest of you,_ ” the princess dropped her fake cheery act. Blue was the only person truly surprised, but out of the corner of his eye, Vio noticed Red flinch in response. “But that had been the _first time_ I’d ever heard it, so I, being worried for my friend, decided to go check on him. Now, I know you know the image I was met with when Vio opened the door,” she gestured towards the Link in question, “so I know you’ll understand why I then proceeded to _freak out_ when I saw him.”

“Thank you, Zelda. I can feel my self-esteem ri-,” Vio cut in before his judgment could warn him otherwise. Zelda pointed her finger at him sternly as though she were chastising a dog.

“Sass.” She warned. Vio narrowly kept himself from rolling his eyes.

“So I brought him out here because his room isn’t helping his condition in the slightest. Now, do you know what I just found out, Blue? I just found out that he _knowingly_ allowed me to take him away from his _anti-depressant pills._ Thatwithout so much as a warning, _immediately_ after I first found out about the pills –might I add that it _wouldn’t_ have been a first if one of you had _told me_ -, he lets me take him away from them _._ ”

There was a pause. Whether the princess was gathering her own thoughts or expecting for Blue to react in any way was uncertain. Blue glanced at Vio out of the corner of his eye before looking back to the standing girl with confusion on his face.

“Uh,” Blue drew out the uncertain sound, “so?”

Zelda looked back at him with the surprised anger of someone who’s been slapped.

“’So?’ What do you mean ‘so?’?”

“I mean, what’s so special about it? Look, if you’re trying to convince me that Vio’s an asshole, you’re preaching to the choir, sister,” This time Vio let himself roll his eyes, “but we’re big boys, Zelda. You know that we can take care of ourselves.”

Zelda looked like she was trying to melt Blue with her glare. Vio mused how ineffective it was on the hot-head.

“Excuse me?” She gritted. “I was just trying to help with something that none of the _rest_ of you-“

“Woah, now what the fuck is _that_ supposed to mean?” Blue’s eyes flashed, “Zelda, we get that you were trying to help but don’t pretend like you’re not slightly to blame too.”

Vio put his head in his hands. He saw Red flinch out of the corner of his eye.

“ _Excuse me?!_ How is _any_ of this my fault?! If any of you had _told me-_ ”

“You keep saying over and over ‘you didn’t tell me’ ‘you didn’t tell me’ ‘you didn’t _tell_ me’,” Blue mocked her words, scrunching his nose up as he parodied the princess’s tone, “but you know what, Zelda? _We. Tried._ ” Blue stood up, “We came over Nayru knows _how_ many times, and _every time_ we were turned away. Told that it wasn’t _important enough_. Told you were _too busy_ to see us. You said it yourself! Red and I had to _sneak in_ to talk to you, and by the time we made it anywhere where we could all talk, the troubles of our home life was the _last_ thing we wanted to mention. We. Tried. But you know what? If you had cared, you would have asked. If you wanted to help, you would have found ways. We knew that. So you wanna know why we didn’t tell you?! You wanna know why, out of all the times Red and I visited, we never once told you about our problems so you could help?!” Blue marched over until he and Zelda were standing toe to toe. He snarled down at her.

“Because we got the message. You’ve outgrown our problems. So we outgrew asking.”

Zelda stared back at him with wide, hurt eyes. She was used to the way Vio verbally attacked, giving hints and logical points that made one’s argument seem illogical, but Blue’s anger had never been thrown in her direction before. She glanced over at the fire-colored Link for confirmation, but Red looked away guiltily and hunched like he was trying to shrink into the chair.

The princess didn’t have a chance to respond before a bright light, edged with a dark glow, fazed into the center of the room, stealing the focus but doing nothing for the tension. 

“Vio! Vio! Vio!” It called. Before Vio could react, Daey bolted towards him. The fairy was so close, the clever Link would have to cross his eyes to look at him. “Vio! Green needs you right now! We don’t know what happened, but something’s happening to Shadow and we can’t figure out what it is!”

Vio felt the tension from before bleed out, displaced with a rising sense of dread. He didn’t want to bring the feuding pair into the same room with the patient, but Daey’s teleportation magic was still relatively new. It took him a while to focus space-related spells on specific people, and it sounded like Shadow would need as much time as Vio could get.

“Take us there. Now.”

Daey didn’t have to be told twice.


	17. Chapter 17

The atmosphere in Vio’s room before the crew arrived could only be described as “complete panic”. Green, whom had no previous medical emergencies to draw experience from, had resorted to screaming random combinations of cuss words and the patient’s name. When the soft, inorganic dark glow of a teleportation signaled Daey’s return, it was all Green could do to not literally sigh in relief. He quickly composed himself (he did have an image to maintain, after all) and made sure to greet the entering team with as stable a voice as he could muster. None of the medical supplies looked touch, despite the condition of the patient, so it was easy for Vio to tell that the leader was internally freaking out. When Vio gave him a pointed look, the original-colored Link's inner panic emerged, and Blue and Red ran to Green’s side to usher him away from the bedside, trying to calm him as they went. Vio rushed to inspect the patient.

Shadow was currently having a seizure, which Vio was used to dealing with thanks to the health dips; however, that was the only sign of a health dip that Vio's practiced eyes could see. There were no signs of mirror shards anywhere on Shadow's person. Vio chose not to think about the fact that he was more worried by this fact than if there had been mirror shards embedded in his teammate’s skin.

“ _Damn it,_ ” Vio hissed as he began moving the bedside table out of the way.

“What’s wrong?” Zelda asked from where she’d been calming Green. Vio had forgotten she was there.

“I don’t know what keeps  _happening_  to him," he explained, running his hand through his hair in frustration, "This isn’t a health dip because health dips always have mirror shards, right? But it’s a seizure, and it's rare for comatose patients to have seizures. …at least I  _think_  it is. I know having a lot of seizures in a short time span can cause comas, but I don’t think people in comas can have seizures.” By that point Zelda came over from where she’d been helping Green.

“It’s okay, Vio. He’s in good hands now. How can I help?” The violet-themed Link snapped back to reality at the sound of her voice.

“We need to get all this stuff away from where he is right now. The bed is wide enough that he shouldn’t fall off, but he could hurt himself if his arm were to hit a syringe or the corner of the tables.”

“Couldn’t we just hold him down?” Blue piped up from where he sat beside Green.

“No. You could end up hurting him more if you do that.” Vio began pulling on Shadow’s shoulder to turn him. “Zelda, you get the stuff near the other side of the bed.”

Zelda set to work moving the indicated clutter away from the patient. Vio pulled Shadow onto his side. The purple-themed Link called Daey. “Go send for the doctor. If this thing lasts longer than five minutes, we’ll need him. If it ends early, pay him for however much he says a ‘false alarm’ is worth.” Vio rolled his eyes as he finished moving the patient.

“Now what?” Zelda asked, finishing with her task. Vio sighed, looking down at the comatose Link.

“That’s all we can do.”

“Seriously?” Green asked from the corner, “that’s it? But, he’s still,” the leader gestured to the patient, “you know.”

“Well, usually, I’d work on getting the mirror shards out of his skin, but there  _aren’t_  any this time. Which is just…  _weird_. This isn’t the behavior of a comatose patient. This is the behavior of a  _health dip_.” Vio paused, thinking, before shaking his head and kneeling by the bed. “So what in the name of all that is sacred is happening to him if it’s not a health dip?”

“Maybe…” Zelda chimed helpfully, “maybe if we think about what a health dip  _is,_  we’d have a better idea of what’s happening to-,” Vio’s face lit up from where he was kneeling. “Wha-?” She was shushed before she could continue.

“Blue, say that again.” He commanded, voice monotone. The purple Link’s eyes were unfocused.

“What?” The addressed teen asked. His mind processed what Vio had said, “Oh, I was trying to get our  _magnificent_  leader here to stop hyperventilating by telling him that stuff people usually do. Like to think about a happy-“

“Nono, but what did you  _say?_ ” Vio hissed.

“U-um, I was chanting that thing people do. You know? Inner peace?” Blue looked at Red wide-eyed, but the smaller hero shrugged, looking as confused as Blue felt.

“Inner peace,” Vio repeated, his voice getting quieter. His expression remained unfocused as the gears almost visibly turned in his head. Suddenly, he looked up at Zelda, a dawning look on his face.

“That’s it,” he whispered. His face broke out in a wide beam, “That’s it! That’s fucking  _it!_  Blue, I hereby take back everything I’ve joked with Red about, you’re a fucking  _genius!_ ” Vio sprang up and immediately began gathering supplies on a table a little ways away from the bed. Blue’s face grew in a smug smile.

“I know I’m smart, Vio. But you’re gonna have to be more specific.”

“I’ve been working around the idea this whole time that if he were having a health dip, I’d be able to see mirror shards. But that’s where I was wrong! I didn’t have to be able to  _see_  them! They just had to be  _there!_ ” He turned away from his supply gathering. “DAEY!” He shouted. The fairy materialized in front of his face.

“Yes, sir?” The black-themed fairy asked, stance stiff as a soldier.

“I need you to scan Shadow for signs of dark magic.” The fluttering of the fairy’s wings stilled momentarily in confusion.

“Um, I thought the doctor had already-“

“The doctor wasn’t looking for what we’re looking for,” Vio explained patiently, “I need for you to locate dark mirror shards.” Daey dropped when his wings were stopped for too long. He regained his previous altitude quickly, hoping the heroes had missed it.

“But, sir, what would that do? We can’t see any-“ Vio groaned, his patience having apparently run out, “okay, okay, fine. But I don’t know what this is going to accomplish.”

A dark glow surrounded the twitching boy. After about ten precious seconds, Daey’s eyes widened.

“U-um. I’m sorry for doubting you, sir. There’s a pretty high reading of dark magic coming from near the…” the fairy’s eyes closed in concentration and the glow brightened momentarily, “throat area.”

“Throat area? But his breathing is normal,” the calm Link questioned, returning to his gathering now that his previous conclusion had been affirmed.

“I can’t locate it any more clearly than that, sir. Sorry.” The fairy paused, “I should probably get back to the doctor. I wasn’t finished filling him in on the-“ Vio made a dismissive gesture at the fairy. “Yes, sir.” The black glow in the room disappeared with their creator. The clever hero was mumbling to himself again as he set the medical equipment up the way he wanted them.

“You’re going to have to speak up if you want us to not think you’re crazy.” Blue added from the corner.

“I was just going through everything in the throat to try and see where the mirror shard could be." The mumbling stopped as Vio picked up a scalpel that he dropped, "There's some pretty vital regions in the necks, and I don’t want to hurt him anymore than he’s already…” the amethyst teen’s voice died with his movements. He looked up, eyes unfocused for the second time that night. The other four people in the room shared a worried look.

“Zelda,” he began, recapturing the room's occupants' attention, “I think you may have been right earlier.”

“Um, thank you? With what?” Instead of answering her, Vio continued.

“Red,” he began, turning towards the addressed individual, “what do we know about the dark mirror?” The Link in question blinked before answering.

“U-um, well, it was used by Ganondorf to bring Shadow int-“

“Generalities, Red.”

“It can be used to bring people from the Shadow Realm into our world. It was given this power by some form of ancient magic. It was broken by Shadow. When broken, all those who required dark power from the Shadow Realm to sustain themselves were destroyed.”

“Correct, now why wasn’t Shadow destroyed?”

“Um, because… because Vaati hadn’t edited out enough of Shadow for him to need the link to the Shadow Realm to sustain himself?”

“Cut the dramatics, Vio,” Blue snapped from where he sat, “just tell us what you figured out.”

“The mirror was filled, possibly made, out of -not just any magic- but  _ancient_  magic. Ancient magic isn’t scaled because it’s power is on a level that modern magic could never hope to attain. You can’t destroy an ancient relic just by throwing it on the ground. The mirror  _shattered_ , yes, but it wasn’t  _destroyed._ ”

“Shadow still has parts of himself in the Shadow Realm, right? But how do you recover if your injury is a physical separation from certain parts of you?” Vio turned on the ball of his feet and returned to the equipment, “You get the parts back.”

“But the Dark Mirr-“ Zelda cut herself off, realizing what Vio was saying. The purple Link continued as though the interruption never happened.

“When you break a mirror, it doesn’t stop reflecting, it just reflects more, smaller images. Part of why ancient magic is so powerful is because it has a strange form of false sentience in a similar way to how chemical equations balance themselves. The Dark Mirror knows that it's broken, so it's doing what anything would do in its situation; it’s trying to heal itself, and it's doing it the only way it can, through its last remaining link…”

“Shadow.” Red finished, tone dazed in realization.

“Exactly!" Vio praised, "It’s using Shadow’s body to heal itself! Shadow was more in our world than the Shadow Realm when the mirror broke due to Vatti’s rough edits, so it’s easier for his body to reconnect in this world, which is why he's still on this side. The mirror's individual parts are serving as portals for respective parts of Shadow's body to pass through, and when a part of his being crosses from the Shadow Realm into this world, it brings that part of the mirror with it! That’s why the mirror shards physically show up in his skin! The mirror is letting him heal, and, in turn, he’s bringing the shards with him. Thinking about this like a broken mirror, the more the shards brings over and are allowed to connect together, the bigger and fewer the reflections become, the faster Shadow heals, the quicker shards are brought together. And when they’re all manifested in this world again and separated from Shadow, the Dark Mirror will be reformed!”

“Now, assuming I’m right and the Dark Mirror is healing Shadow in order to reform, what would happen if a piece were left where it had formed in him?” He didn’t wait for an answer, “The Dark Mirror’s goal is to repair, and in order to do that, all of its pieces have to be removed from Shadow. If the person tending to Shadow had known of the shards’ healing properties, who’s to say they wouldn’t leave them in the patient to try and heal him faster? The mirror can’t reform if part of it is still in Shadow -because ancient magic is imprecise and the joined shards wouldn't want to chance tarnishing the mirror by adding something that wasn't a shard-, so in order to ensure that ALL of it's parts are removed, there had to be some form of punishment to leaving them in.”

“The shards heal him, sure, but what if there’s no cap to their regenerative properties? If left in him, the part it was recovering might begin to overwork itself. If it had been the liver, he’d overproduce bile. If it had been the heart, his heartbeat would quicken or become erratic. Then again, the Dark Mirror can’t heal if its host dies, so it’d never allow a complication from one of it's shards kill Shadow. The untouched part must cause a problem that would worry a caretaker into taking action but not one so bad as to kill the host. The doctor would look into the issue, see the shard, then remove it. Shadow would be fixed; the mirror could continue repairing itself.”

“Um, I hate to break your streak here,” Blue cut in, “but what made you think of all this?”

“The shard isn’t in his throat, Blue! Not technically!” Vio turned, his eyes sparking in revelation as they met Blue’s gaze, “it’s in his thyroid! More specifically,”

“It’s where his thyroid produces melatonin! The shard is making him overproduce sleeping hormone, and that’s why he hasn't been able to wake up; his body is stuck in a constantly sleeping circadian rhythm until we take the shard out!”

A voice from behind Vio caused him to spin in place. The teleportation glow was still fading around Dr. Yamauchi as he chose that moment to speak up.

“Then we’d better get to work. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I would sure hate to make Sleeping Beauty wait any longer than she has to.”

The doctor knew that afterwards he would receive a lecture on unprofessional conduct –if he had noticed the princess in the room, he wouldn't have made that comment at all- but at the time, everyone in the room was too ecstatic at the prospect of fixing Shadow to do anything but start on the impromptu surgery that would hopefully do exactly what the doctor suggested.


	18. Chapter 18

    Green sat on the felled log outside.

    This wasn’t Green’s first experience with an injured teammate. He’s seen soldiers get sent to a medical tent. Hell, he’s dragged a few there himself. Some he’d even tried to stay with. Provide a calming voice in the chaos of field medicine, maybe. But the medical team had always shoved him (or, more recently, them) out. 

    Medical personnel only. Trust me, kid, you don’t wanna see this. 

    You hear the team say things from outside the tent flap, of course. You can get a pretty good idea of what’s happening from that. “Nurse, another scalpel.” “That’s a lot deeper than I thought it was.” or goddesses forbid “Shit!” but that was the closest he’d ever gotten to seeing the actual treatment of a serious injury.

    There had been no one to kindly escort him out this time, so he’d tried being there during the procedure, but...

    Green sat on the felled log outside.

    He didn’t move when he heard the swinging door from the house. He knew who it was.

    “Everything alright, Green?” Red asked, hopping up beside the leader.

    “Depends. How’s it going?”

    “I don’t know.” 

    Red flinched when Green’s focus snapped towards him, “I mean, I  think it’s pretty good? Vio’s saying ‘fuck’ a lot, but he usually does that when he’s stressed. Besides, it’s  Shadow  we’re talking about. Any condition other than perfectly normal would probably put Vio on edge.”

    Green snorted. Red smiled.

    “Oh good. I was worried I’d have to explain.”     “No, they’re… they’re _pretty_ obvious.”

    “Blue hasn’t noticed yet.”

    Green gave Red a look.

    “Good point,” the smaller Link conceded with a laugh.

    They sat in silence for some time after that. Companionable, but stressed by the ongoing events. Green broke first.

    “I don’t understand how Vio can do it,” he admitted, hand dragging down his face.

    “Do what?”

    “Just…” a sigh, “ _this_ .” He gestured towards the house. “Taking care of Shadow, and keeping up with the chores, and stopping the rest of us from killing each other. How did he not just-... just collapse?”

    Red’s face grew somber. He looked away, towards the tree line. “He has depression, Green. He did.”

    The leader winced. “But… okay, like, Vio shows up, and he immediately takes over with the seizure. He gets frustrated about what’s happening, he figures it out. And then there’s this whole ‘performing surgery’ thing. He didn’t even hesitate about working _inside_ someone’s _neck_. He found out what was wrong, and now he’s dealing with it.” Green looked down at his boots, “I guess I just don’t understand why I panicked, why _I_ had to leave, and he can just… do it all.”

    Red sighed a little.

    (If his leader had been listening just a little bit harder, he would have heard the mumbled “Couldn’t keep it a secret forever”)

    “Green, I-... I don’t think you get it.”

    “I know I’m not the smartest person, but... Vio’s been teaching me a few things, and... it’s like… okay-” Red turned to face Green with a determined huff.

    “Every person has their own battlefield: their own something that goes against what comes naturally to them and takes a fight to accomplish. I can’t handle it when I upset someone. When something’s wrong and it’s my fault, I feel awful for  _hours_ , even if everyone says it’s alright. Even if the person I feel I’ve  _wronged_ says everything’s fine. That’s just how I am. But for Blue, he can’t accept when he’s in the wrong. He tells himself ‘but I wouldn’t have messed up if blahblahblah hadn’t done whatever’. Taking up blame is one of Blue’s battlefields. He needs to do it, but it takes a fight for him to reach it.

    “You’re not out here because you can’t handle injuries, Green.” Red held up his hand against the near cut-off, “you’re  _not_ out here because you can’t handle injuries. You’re not out here because you can’t handle watching a medical team. We’ve seen worse on the battlefield, and you know it.

    “You talk as though Vio is the only one here who’s good at finding and getting rid of problems. You are too. 

    “You’re not out here because Vio’s fighting.

    “You’re out here because you’re not.”

    “When something’s wrong, you’re _always_ the first on the frontline. It’s a given. You can’t help yourself. Fighting, leading-- it’s in your blood! And when you can’t fight --because you don’t know how, because you physically can’t-- you hate it. You feel guilty and worthless, but, Green, there’s nothing wrong with sitting on the sidelines for a couple rounds. You don’t know how to do surgery. Oh well! You’re still the bravest knight in the unit. You’re still the first soldier anyone asks for when they need help with training. You’re still our leader. Nothing’s going to change that.

    “Vio can handle surgery, true, but that’s not his battlefield. His problem is asking for help. It’s _similar_ to yours, in a way. They start from the same place, at least. He thinks it’s his responsibility --as the “smart” one-- to solve every problem for every person. It’s not that he isn’t _capable_ of helping. Given enough time, the smarty-pants could probably find a way to fix the monster problem in Hyrule on one overnight mission. But the problem is he overruns himself. It’s “his” job; he doesn’t want to bother anyone else with it, so he ends up putting task after task onto his own head until it breaks him. _You_ know when to ask for help. _You_ know it’s alright to share work. Vio doesn’t. It makes him feel worthless, guilty. Like he can’t do “his” job, and now he’s wasting someone else’s time to help him.

    “So, no, Green. You’re not like Vio. You can’t perform surgery and handle chores AND play peacekeeper. But your battlefield isn’t not being able to do everything. 

    “It’s that you think it’s bad that you can’t.”

    They were silent. Red turned to face towards the evergreen outskirts again. Crystal blue eyes never left his face as he directed his gaze forwards. 

    Green, after some time, shifted to watch the tree line as well.

    “I guess I should probably go inside then, huh?”

    Red shrugged. “Not yet, I kind of need a break too. You can only sit and watch them… work… for so long, you know?”

    Green let out a breath.

    They sat on the felled log outside.

    After some time, they both stood up and silently marched inside.

    (Later     when the dust settled     Green promised himself he’d return the favor.

    Even later  
    when the dust kicked up again  
    he’d make good on it.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting close to the end! A maximum of two chapters left!


	19. Chapter 19

“Hey!” Red stage-whispered when he and Green returned to the room, “Zelda!”. The princess looked away from the surgery. “Can I talk to you outside?”

Zelda’s expression was confused, but she stood from her chair in the corner and followed the ruby Link out anyway.

“What do you think that’s all about?” Blue whispered so the amethyst hero didn’t overhear.

“Nothing much,” Green smirked. “Probably that little project we’ve all been working on.” Blue made an affirmative noise.

“We’re almost there, right? You finally cleared that space in the backyard?”

“It’s all cut, if that’s what you mean. If she pitches in the rest of the money today, we can all spend our time tomorrow clearing the felled trees.”

They were quiet for a little while. Vio and the doctor chattered excitedly over Shadow at each other.

“Do you think he’ll like it?” Blue whispered again, gesturing his head in Vio’s direction.

“You know, before, I wasn’t quite sure. It seemed a bit too childish. But…” Green trailed off a little, “I’m starting to think that Red knows what he’s doing. It might not make sense now, but maybe sometime later we’ll look back and realize what a smart kid he can be sometimes.” Blue scoffed.

“I’d give my right arm before ever admitting Red knew better than I did about anything. Next you’ll be telling me he’s got the language of a sailor.”

“Don’t go saying things you don’t mean, Blue. You never know what’s gonna happen.”

“Fuck off.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seven.

Hours.

 _6 hours, 47 minutes, 16 seconds, 398 millisecond_ s, and counting the back of Green’s mind chimed in. Thanks. Where would he be if he hadn’t known that his original guess was 13 minutes ( _12 minutes, 43 seconds, and 602 milliseconds_ ) off?

Sure, it’s a near-pitch black room and it is a delicate area for surgery, but three hours is a long time to wait silently, let alone _6 hours, 47 minutes, 38 seconds, 756 milliseconds and counting_.

The only thing holding his sanity together was messing around with this little voice in the back of his head. He’d noticed it for the first time after a quick clean-up mission outside of Castle Town. A little chime which knew the exact time lapse of certain activities and which could pinpoint the time accurately to the millisecond.

Sunset lasted _23 minutes, 56 seconds, and 013 milliseconds_ from _20:33:14.009_ to _20:57:10.022_. It took him _6 minutes, 27 seconds, and 184 milliseconds_ to cut down the huge tree in the backyard. It took him an average of _48 seconds and 328 milliseconds_ to choose the next tree to cut down, giving him a total of about _7 minutes, 15 seconds, and 512 milliseconds_ to cut down a tree after the last one. He could have cut 3 trees from the time sunset started to the time it ended.

He’d asked Zelda shortly after learning about the internal clock whether something might be wrong, and she gave him some dusty history books on the subject of the Hero of Time.  The books suggested that Green (as far as he could tell, he was the only Link who received this ability) inherited this ability from the legendary figure but could only use it when he entered high-stress situations. The leader’s only tense scenarios up to this point were battles, where he was too focused on what he was doing in the short time (no more than _1 hour, 28 minutes, 34 seconds, and 576 milliseconds_ ) to really notice it, so at least this whole scene had a silver lining: the chance to appreciate the inner talent that only he seemed to possess.

Red’s left foot takes an average of _780 milliseconds_ to swing from back to front, _120 milliseconds less_ than his right foot. He kicks 10 times in about _9 seconds and 099 milliseconds_ since he pauses at the height of his kick for about _011 milliseconds_. He started swinging his feet _16 minutes, 48 seconds, and 321 milliseconds_ after he sat down at _03:49:02.904_ ( _04:05:51.225_ ). 1 minute exactly after Vio told Blue to either sit down or get out.

The leader was in the middle of checking that little ticking clock at the back of his mind for how fast Blue paces when a hand on his arm snapped him out.

“Green,” Red said, rubbing his eyes with his palm. It must have been pretty early ( _05:02:12.409_ ). He’d usually be knocked out by now. “They’re done.”

Green yawned (when did he start falling asleep? ( _04:58:59.561_ )) and stretched his arms -pop-, his legs -pop-, his back -popopop-, and his neck before standing. He knocked on the door next to him. The footsteps out in the hallway hesitated in their rhythm before their owner opened the door. The doctor had left at _03:31:27:089_ , saying something about being the only doctor on-call tomorrow and needing at least some rest before his shift started.

“Finally.” Blue grumbled. “How long does it take to get one shard of glass?” Vio raised an eyebrow at Blue.

“Normally? Only a couple minutes.” ( _3 minutes, 51 seconds, 908 milliseconds_ ) “From the neck? A good 9 minutes.” ( _7 minutes, 38 seconds, 212 milliseconds_ ) “From inside the neck? A long-ass time.”

( _6 hours, 58 minutes, 58 seconds, and 372 milliseconds_ )

“Apparently.” Blue spat back, rolling his eyes. “So… what. Am I awake at I-hate-everything o’clock for nothing, or did Dr. Miracles work his fairy magic and now you gotta be _really looking_ to see the scar?” A corner of Vio’s mouth lifted to match its twin eyebrow.

“Of all the kinds of insomniacs, you didn’t peg me as a creative one. That was impressive.” Vio doused a rag in clear liquid to start rubbing the tools with. “The second is probably more accurate. Don’t tell Shadow; he’d be so disappointed if he didn’t get a bad-ass neck scar.”

“I feel like I got hit by a truck. It sounds like a fair deal.” He walked around to stand by Vio and look down at Shadow. “Still asleep?”

“It’s going to be awhile until the effects wear off. The shard was in him for awhile.”

“Makes sense.” Blue conceded. Vio withheld the automatic ‘of course’, but the look on his face was smart-ass enough to merit a sapphire-clad elbow in the side.

Green only partly listened to the rest of their conversation. He yawned.

“As fun as this has been,” the original-colored Link interrupted, “I’m gonna go pass out. Good work. I’ll have a more substantial congratulations in the morning.”

Red slurred through an affirmation and stumbled after the leader.

“I think I’ll head to bed too.” Blue agreed, heading for the door, “Are you gonna be alright here?” Vio waved his hand dismissively. The ocean-colored hero rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah. Goodnight to you too, ass.”

Vio finished cleaning his equipment a good 10 minutes after Blue left the room. Perfect timing.

A little later, Vio hummed quietly to himself as he walked down the hallway after finishing his nighttime routine in the shared bathroom. He couldn’t hear any noise from Green or Red’s doors. Understandable, his teammates probably weren’t too far off when they mentioned “passing out”.

Vio passed his room’s purple door without hesitation, stopping instead at a door painted sapphire blue.

The clever hero couldn’t sleep in his bed during Shadow’s recovery: one wrong flip could end up sending the patient onto the floor, and even though Vio could technically sleep comfortably in a hammock in the corner, Dr. Yamauchi advised him to stop sleeping in his room where the blocked-out sunlight allowed him an excuse to sleep all day and night.

Thankfully, listening to the doctor’s advice hadn’t been too hard. Blue had abandoned his own room for Red’s unsurprisingly quickly.

If Green were telling a townsperson the story of Shadow’s coma, he’d say that he had said goodnight to his fellow Links at 5:05:43.729, immediately went to his bedroom, and fell asleep (although he’d omit that he’d been fully clothed) soon afterwards at 5:07:12.283.

Red passed out even sooner than Green at 5:06:58.120, but Blue, who took longer than any Link to get to bed due to his weird obsession with folding his clothes, woke him up at 5:09:21.401. They respectively fell asleep again at 5:10:23.789 and 5:10:25.180.

Vio’s nightly ritual meant he only reached Blue’s bed at 5:10:04.329. He closed his eyes at 5:11:12.741, but didn’t actually fall asleep until 5:13:31.452.

Shadow fell asleep on 4/13 at 23:49:16.502. His surgery was on 5/03, from 22:03:14.037 to 05:02:12.409.

It was 5/04. 11:33 in the morning.

Shadow Link groaned. His back was sore, his head hurt, and his limbs felt weak, but the worst pain came from his neck, which felt like he’d inhaled magma. Groaning had not helped. The black-robed teen didn’t want to open his eyes. He worried that would bring on a fresh wave of nausea.

“Now, now,” a monotone voice came from beside him, “don’t be dramatic.”

“I-” “think someone shoved a flaming” cough “sword down my throat after” “beating me with a hammer.”

“Like I said: dramatic. You’re in top health for someone who’s been unconscious for three weeks.”

Shadow opened his eyes and turned his head to his violet-robed teammate.

“Three weeks?”

Vio smiled. “Let me start from the beginning.”


	20. Chapter 20

    About a week after Shadow finally woke up, the door to Vio’s room opened to a visitor.

    “Hey!” Green called in a harsh whisper, “Shadow!” The patient found this very amusing, as Vio’s room is relatively small and it’d be difficult for someone to not be noticed there. He tilted his head to show Green this. The original-colored Link didn’t seem to get the hint. “You ready?”

    Shadow smirked. He could get used to it here.

    “I’m always ready for duty,” a mock salute from his propped up position on Vio’s bed, “Sir”.

    Green crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. “We’re going to have to work on your insubordination problem.” Shadow, apparently, found that hilarious.

    “Probably,” he laughed, “but won’t that be a fun story to tell my grandkids one day?” his smirk grew wider, “now I _know_ I’m not the only one here with a job to do. Best get to it; I’d hate to be your excuse.”

    Green rolled his eyes and turned to walk out the door.

    “You’re welcome!” Shadow called after him. The patient’s laughter muffled once the door was closed, but Green only let himself chuckle when he was out of earshot.

    “Yeah, yeah. Thanks, weirdo.” He mumbled under his breath.

    Green arrived at the door to the backyard and opened it to the sound of Blue shouting. He felt worryingly used to this. “For the LAST. TIME. IT’S FINE! Now SHUT! UP!” The leader rolled his eyes and smiled.

    “Fighting already?” He called, gaining the two Link’s attention. “Come on, we’ve got a little ways to go, and who knows if Shadow’s actually gonna keep up his end. Let’s hurry up and finish this.”

    “Okay!” Red cheered, running off to presumably ‘hurry up and finish this’.

    Blue rolled his shoulders and shot Green a grateful look as he approached him.

    “Thank. Goddesses.” Blue groaned in relief, “If I had to hear him ask that one more time. He’s like a broken record, Green. ‘Will he like it?’ ‘Will he like it?’ ‘Do you really think he’ll like it?’” Green shrugged a shoulder with a smile.

    “He’s just excited. You were there; he’s been working his butt off to get this.”

    Blue stood for a moment, glancing to where Red was happily working.

    “So…” he started uncertainly, “ _do_ you think Vio will like it? I hate to get his hopes up for nothing.”

    “I already told you, Blue.” Green started, clapping his teammate on the shoulder, “Red knows what he’s doing.”

    Blue rolled his eyes, “Whatever. I still trust him about as far as Shadow can throw him.”

    “Sick jokes? Really?” His tone was condescending, but the corner of Green’s mouth lifted in amusement.

    “He’s _fine._ The rule is no sick jokes unless they’re fine.”

“Tell that to Vio.”

“Fuck that. I like my ears too much to get them talked off.”

“Yep,” Green chuckled, leaving to join Red, “that’s what I thought.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Shadow was, despite Green’s doubts, trying his best to do his part. He’d kept Vio from walking away for Farore knows how long (it’s hard to tell the time when it’s too dark to see a clock or the sun), but he could only keep his old pal preoccupied for _so long_. He hoped they would hurry up.

    The black-clothed Link guessed it was about an hour after thinking that when the charade started slipping.

    “What is going on with you?” Vio finally asked. Slight irritation seeped into his voice as he turned away from his door _again_ to deal with Shadow.

    “You mean other than the erratic health dips, muscle atrophy, possible nerve damage from the coma thing, my quote, unquote ‘insubordination issues’... should I keep going?”

    “So, a visit from Green, then,” Vio guessed. Sighing, he sank into the chair beside the bed again, “Don’t worry about him, Shadow. He’ll warm up to you.” The bedridden Link rolled his eyes.

    “Calm down, Doctor Psychologist,” Vio huffed a laugh, “I’m not worried. The old Shadow Realm charm gets everyone sooner or later.” He waggled his eyebrows at Vio.

    The calm teen resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he searched his teammate’s face, thinking.

    “You know,” he started, testing the waters, “you’re going to have to tell us about that place sometime.”

    Shadow’s smirk faded a little. He shrugged out an, “I know. Just… not right now, right?”

    Vio smiled sympathetically, “not right now.”

    A few knocks at the bedroom door made Vio start. Shadow hid his smirk and laughter behind his hand.

    “Hey, Vio?” Green called through the door, “Can I come in?”

    The calm Link moved to open the door and stepped aside to let Green through. The grass-colored Link nodded a hello to Shadow before turning his back on him to face Vio.

    “There’s a situation in the backyard,” he began. He held up a thumbs-up behind his back to the patient, who tried to hide his sly smile. “I need you to come take a look.” Shadow faked a disappointed interjection.

    “Looks like our session’s up, Doctor,” he jeered. This earned an eye-roll from the purple-clothed Link and a strange look from Green. He ignored both. “More important matters seem to have come up.”

    Vio nodded an assent. “Alright, lead the way,” he told Green, allowing the leader to leave before him, Shadow shouted after them.

    “Knock ‘em dead! Kisses!”

    Green gave Vio an incredulous look.

    “You get used to it,” the wise Link reassured his teammate.

    “I sure hope so. He keeps saying things about some charm and to be honest, it’s a little creepy.” Green shivered; Vio chuckled.

    The pair walked across the house together in silence. Green tried his best to hide his excitement as a favor to Red. Him acting excited might end up spoiling the surprise after all. The walk to the backdoor never seemed longer.

    When they reached the door outside, the classic-clothed Link went to open it. His teammate stopped him.

    Vio's voice held a knowing tone as he said, “It's a little odd that you haven't explained anything about this 'situation'. Should I be worried?”

    Green smiled. “That,” he paused, “you might have to figure out for yourself." Vio nodded and let him open the door.

    In place of the forest that one would usually see behind the Links’ place of residence, Vio walked out to a surprisingly large wooden pirate ship playground. From what Vio could see, there were swings on the ground beside the ship, climbing net "riggings" which led to a Crow's nest slide (that had to be even higher than the _house_ ), and, if the square holes in the side were windows, a room on the inside which presumably held even more.

    “Surprise!” Red called from the top of the Crow’s nest. Blue waved once from where he was leaning against the side of the ship as Red pulled himself down the slide.

    Apparently, it ended on the side of the ship not facing Vio, because Red came running around the playground, sliding to a stop in front of the amethyst-themed teen. Blue pushed away from the wall and walked over shortly after.

    “Wh-” Vio began. His eyebrows furrowed as he took in the scene in front of him, completely baffled, “what the… is-”

    “It’s a playground.” Green filled in, coming to a stop at Vio’s side. “Red saw an ad for it in town, and he’s been saving up for months to afford it.”

    “Isn’t it awesome?!” Red asked, a gleam in his eyes.

    “It…” Vio trailed off, glancing to Green for help. The leader had a smile on his face but a warning in his eyes. Blue’s expression, of course, was even less helpful. Vio’s gaze turned back to the shortest teammate.

    Red’s beaming smile began to falter, the gleam in his eyes becoming worried.

    “It’s... awesome,” the clever Link finished unsurely. Red Link brightened, giving Vio the courage to tack on, “I didn’t even know they made things like it. It’s… would you mind giving a tour?”

    “Of course not!” Red whooped, grabbing Vio’s hand to lead him towards the playground. Green watched them walk away. Red chattering away happily at the taller teammate as he pointed to different features.

    “Well,” Blue commented once they were out of earshot, “that was a disaster.”

    “What do you mean?” Green asked. The emotional Link gave him a disbelieving look.

    “He hated it, Green. Did you see his face?”

    “He was surprised! You know how Vio is, he can’t just _automatically_ love something. He has to warm up to it.”

    They paused, watching Red and Vio disappear around the ship.

    “Besides,” Green continued, “did you see that?” He got a weird look for his effort. “Blue, come on. A _month_ ago, he couldn't _guess_ that Red was getting worried. He’s getting better. And isn’t it great that with all that’s happened, things like this can still happen?” The corner of Blue’s mouth twitched upwards.

    “Well then, asshole. You get to build the giant-ass playset next time.” Green scoffed in mock offense.

“I cleared the lawn. We’re even and you know it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank everyone who stuck with this story till the end. I know its postings were sporadic, and I wouldn't be surprised if some people thought I'd given up on it. Nonetheless, this was fun to write from beginning to end, and I hope you all liked it! Thank you for reading!


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